Silvio Rodríguez is, together with his comrade Pablo Milanés, the most popular musician of Cuba. They are the most prominent representatives of the nueva trova, the Cuban counterpart to the nuova canción (new song) that gripped Latin America from the Chile of Violeta Parra and Victor Jara to the heights of the Andes in the 1960s and the 1970s, when revolt and revolution was in the air. Throughout their longer than half-a-century spell of popularity, both Cuban singer-musicians played for many audiences all over Latin America and, eventually Europe and elsewhere, to great critical and popular acclaim.
Milanés passed away in 2022 and Silvio Rodríguez is today probably the most revered artist in the heart of most Cubans and without a shred of doubt dear to millions of Latin Americans. Many of his songs are classics, not only of Cuban but of Latin American folk music, songs such as “Sueño con serpientes”, “La maza”, “Vamos a andar” and others. “Ojalá”, quite a difficult song to accompany, is sung by entire audiences during concerts. Although Rodríguez’s lyrics are highly sophisticated and poetic rather than couched in direct militant language, he has also composed songs that speak directly of class struggle, national liberation and revolution such as “Fusil contra fusil” or “Playa Girón” (which is a piece of poetic beauty about the Bay of Pigs incident).
Recently, at a ceremony in Havana, attended by the leaders of the Cuban Communist Party and the top brass of the Armed Forces, Silvio Rodríguez was donned a combat rifle with the declared intention of fighting arm in hand against any intervention by the armed forces of US imperialism. Rodríguez is now 79, to turn into 80 this coming November. His symbolic act of defiance against Trump’s threats and foul language goes to show that there is a strong tendency within Cuban society that will not simply stand by to watch the dismantling of the revolution and the gains of the Cuban people, but will fight, just as they did under Fidel and Che decades ago.
Let the whole world’s working class and youth send the same message to Trump and his henchmen that proletarian internationalism will call “presente!” when the Cuban people, its workers and youth and its artists, with Silvio Rodríguez at their head, take up arms and fight US imperialism and once again shout “Venceremos”!
We are delivering here the lyrics in Spanish and English of his song “Playa Girón”:
Playa Girón
Compañeros poetas (Fellow poets)
Tomando en cuenta los últimos sucesos en la poesía (Considering the latest events in poetry)
Quisiera preguntar, me urge (I would like to ask, I am in a hurry)
¿Qué tipo de adjetivos se deben usar para hacer (What kind of adjectives should be used to make)
El poema de un barco sin que se haga sentimental? (The poem of a ship without it becoming sentimental?)
Fuera de la vanguardia o evidente panfleto, (Outside of the avant-garde or an obvious pamphlet)
¿Si debo usar palabras como (If I must use words like)
Flota Cubana de Pesca y Playa Girón? (Cuban Fishing Fleet and Playa Girón?)
Compañeros de música (Fellow musicians)
Tomando en cuenta esas politonales y audaces canciones, quisiera preguntar (Considering those polytonal and bold songs, I would like to ask)
Me urge (I am in a hurry)
¿Qué tipo de armonía se debe usar para hacer (What kind of harmony should be used to make)
La canción de este barco con hombres de poca niñez (The song of this ship with men of little childhood)
Hombres y solamente hombres sobre cubierta (Men and only men on deck)
Hombres negros y rojos (Black and red men)
Y azules, los hombres que pueblan el Playa Girón? (And blue, the men who populate Playa Girón?)
Compañeros de historia (Fellow historians)
Tomando en cuenta lo implacable que debe ser la verdad (Considering how implacable the truth must be)
Quisiera preguntar, me urge tanto (I would like to ask, I am really in a hurry)
¿Qué debiera decir? ¿Qué fronteras debo respetar? (What should I say? What borders should I respect?)
Si alguien roba comida y después da la vida, ¿qué hacer? (If someone steals food and then gives his life, what should I do?)
¿Hasta dónde debemos practicar las verdades? (To what extent should we practice the truth?)
¿Hasta donde sabemos? (To what extent do we know?)
Que escriban, pues, la historia, su historia (Let them write history, their history)
Los hombres del Playa Girón (The men of Playa Girón)
Que escriban, pues, la historia, su historia (Let them write history, their history)
Los hombres del Playa Girón (The men of Playa Girón)
Source: https://raineyknudson.substack.com/p/9-silvio-rodriguez-playa-giron
Silvio Rodríguez receives AKM rifle after calling for Cuba to be defended against the US : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7NEcux1jI