As a kid you always heard echoes of Silvio Rodríguez: either his music or his legend.
The subtle charge of finger-plucked “Ojalá” or the fiery requiem for Che Guevara “Fusil Contra Fusil” (recently featured in Steven Soderbergh’s biopic Che) stand as poetic anthems that have given us insight into a revolutionary generation with visible remnants today.
The man became synonymous with his homeland Cuba, as he melodically articulated the passions of the Latin American left. And now, a three-decade ban has been lifted, and Rodríguez will play the U.S. once again. After obtaining his artist visa, he opened his “Live From Cuba” tour in San Juan, P.R. (where the Cuban folk singer has a fervent following) and will now continue to Carnegie Hall for two dates, tomorrow the 4th and June 10th, to promote his recent album Segunda Cita.
The magnitude of his U.S. tour coincides with President Obama’s efforts to establish friendlier relations with the Caribbean island. When asked whether he saw an improvement, at a press conference at S.O.B.’s, the trovador said, “The situation between the two countries has returned, it seems to me, to where it was before Bush. They’ve left it right there.” However, he hopes to see a more promising future reminding us that it has been “too much time, too much anguish, too many absences, too much lacking, too much pain.”
His long overdue presence in the U.S., with stops in Miami, San Francisco, and L.A., is an equally significant milestone for both nations as they work toward improvements in their political relationship.
The NYC show tonight is sold out but try your best to catch Rodríguez on June 10th.