Banning is prohibited

"Hard-line performers are ‘restricted,’ top programmer says"

By Tony Pinelli

HAVANA – In early July, after a trip abroad that lasted about two months, I went to Radio Taíno, in the building that houses the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television.
No sooner had I walked in, that a friend of mine – a colleague who directed radio programs – came to me and told me he had been thinking of me because he had attended a meeting between high-ranking Party officials and the CIRT that had ended in an accord: “banning shall be forbidden.”

I asked him what that meant and he answered that, from that time on, radio programmers could schedule musical numbers performed by artists who had left Cuba. Such programming had been forbidden in nationwide radio, depending on the professional opinion of program directors.

My friend said he thought of me because of an article that I had published in Cubarte in 2011, titled “Censorship and History,” where I had analyzed how counterproductive the censorship of various artists had been, from my humble point of view.

The artists whose performances cannot be broadcast are not on a black list. That doesn’t exist. Many people talked about the infamous black list, but in reality (to my knowledge) prohibitions have never been issued in writing.

All program directors know that there are artists who are the object of official rejection – such as Celia Cruz, Willy Chirino and Olga Guillot – to the same degree as their constant attitude toward the Cuban government. In other words, a mutual hatred that obscures reason dominates this field.

But in addition to these reciprocal and extreme cases, there are others, sparked by an opposing comment or opinion, especially when the artist has left the country recently.
But measuring rods vary, and some radio stations are more tolerant than others. Radio Taíno, a station conceived for the entertainment of tourists, programs a number of artists who left Cuba but made no ferocious statements against the Cuban government even though they opposed the socialist project, such as Orlando Contreras, Ñico Membiela and Xiomara Alfaro.

Occasionally, someone who claims to speak for the station’s management tells you that Pablo Milanés is banned, yet when you ask responsible officials they’ll tell you that that’s not true but that Milanés is “restricted” because of his strong statements. The fact is that Pablo Milanés is programmed routinely at Taíno.

Others who left Cuba before the triumph of the Revolution – such as Vicentico Valdés, Panchito Riset and Arsenio Rodríguez – are broadcast as a historical testimony of the development and variation of styles, above all for the good of the nation’s musical memory, even if they never returned. Because there is no record of their disagreement, their presence is tolerated – at least at Radio Taíno.

With this information at hand, I spoke to the station’s chief of programming, who told me he was about to meet on the subject with the new director, to define what policy should be followed.

As a result, a number by Celia Cruz that I had selected for my program was withdrawn. Because of the basic principle of discipline (and “he who pays, commands”), I waited for the meeting at which we program directors would be given details of the policy. The topic had been raised more than once at similar meetings.

Two weeks went by and I again asked the station’s chief programmer if a date had been set for the meeting. No, he said. Then I asked where I could get information because I wanted to write on the subject and had scheduled international interviews to discuss it. He said he didn’t have an answer but he kindly suggested that I contact someone in a position to know best: comrade Rolando Álvarez, Director of National Radio.

By then, an article on the subject had appeared on the BBC website, written by the BBC’s Havana correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, who quoted cultural journalist Reny Martínez. Naturally, because of the weight of the topic, the article was reproduced by the media in blogs and commentaries, especially on the Internet. So I thanked the chief programmer’s for his suggestion and phoned Álvarez, who represents the opinion of radio management with the greatest authority.

Rolando, a tenured official with whom I have the best of relations, saw me immediately and explained to me the facts. Yes, there had been a meeting at which it was made clear that no black list existed. There was talk about artists who did not have an aggressive stance against the Cuban government, so there was no problem about programming them. But in the case of any performer who had joined the enemy in attacking our families – such as Celia Cruz, who went to sing at the U.S. base at Guantánamo – the CIRT properly reserved the right to refuse them air space on Cuban radio.

He asked me why I was concerned, and I told him that it was a question of history. There were figures, I said, whose contribution to the nation’s musical development made them worth knowing, especially by the students of music. His answer: It is up to the Ministry of Culture and the art schools to point out those important contributions, not up to the nationwide radio.

So, while the news spread worldwide, the official version contradicted the BBC, turning its scoop into a mere rumor.

The irreconcilable hatred persists. Not long ago, I sent an invitation to Willy Chirino asking him to participate in a documentary in honor of Arsenio Rodríguez and he answered that if the Cuban government had any part in it, he would not agree to an interview. I respect his decision, but in Cuba is there anything that the government is NOT involved?

Why was I interested in Chirino? Because he’s Cuban, an excellent artist and because the program dealt with Arsenio. In my modest opinion, I thought it good that the Cuban public should see him in a kind of “ceasefire,” paying tribute to a great performer, the same way we saw Celia Cruz in “I Am from Son to Salsa,” that excellent documentary by Rigoberto López.

There’s such hatred there and such hatred here that we can’t play Celia’s “Modern Herb Seller” or Olga Guillot’s “Lie to Me,” but we can broadcast Daddy Yankee or Don Omar with no objections, true symbols of capitalist decadence. But wounds do heal and I’m positive that time, that miraculous balm, will have the last word.

Tony Pinelli is a Cuban program director and radio host, a musicologist and music critic.

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