In their obsession with responding to “Homeland and Life”, the Cuban authorities continue to overwhelm the population with “songs” that, unlike the piece by Yotuel, Zone People, Descemer Bé, Maykel Castell (Osorbo) and The funky, cause repudiation and ridicule.
How far will the regime go in its longing to nullify the criticism of a song that is already an anthem in Cuba today? It is seen that so far, the Government does not intend to skimp on at least the ridiculous.
Apart from launching racist insults and disqualifications of all kinds against their performers, to date the Government has released three pieces of music to retaliate against “Homeland and Life”: “Homeland or Death for Life”, “Conviction” and ” Homeland and love “.
The first is already a success of nonsense: the issue of Raul Torres become a virtual plebiscite on support for the regime on the YouTube channel of the official site Cubadebate. Four days after its premiere there and on official television, it surpasses 85,000 “Dislikes” and just 6,300 “Likes,” with around 730,000 views.
“For sounds like this it was that they closed the U.S. Embassy in Cuba,” Aldo Hernandez quipped in one of the more than 32,000 comments left on the forum. The subject rains satirical memes and the considerations on social media about its content and video are very harsh.
The disaster of “Homeland or death for life” made even Google reward her with an unfavorable title. In a simple search under the terms “the worst song of 2021”, and which is based on the number of negative votes on YouTube, the most used search engine in the world returns precisely the issue, produced by the Cuban Government.
Also “Conviction”, by Reinaldo Echemendía Estrada, director of the Camagüey Folk Ballet, produced in this territory and performed by local musicians, receives strong criticism.
“Homeland or Death is not to die, but to announce to the Empire for life that to die for the homeland is to live,” the song’s lyrics say.
“How many songs do these people plan to make. Gentlemen, the paperwork is done,” said Yaniel Armando Navarrete Blanc on the YouTube channel forum of the Camagüey Provincial Directorate of Culture, where he was promoted.
“How sad to see these people there. Fulfilling a task. You can see them in the look, I don’t see enthusiasm or feeling in these artists, I see a craft performance. I see a deep regret. The art has to be provocative. , transmitting life, it should not look like a morning. This looks like an open forum. Unfortunate, “wrote visual artist Wilmar Verdecia.
Finally, “Homeland and Love,” a video shared a week ago on its YouTube channel by the House of Ten of Mayabeque and performed by children, stunned netizens.
“You can’t fall lower, manipulating innocent children. Where are the parents who allow them to use their children for this? They have ruined their future,” Yaima Triana lamented at the forum.
“My story is not a mercenary story, paid for with coins of pain. My story was written in the daily struggle, hoisting the flag of honor,” says the heart of the theme, written by Lázaro Palenzuela, and which reiterates the regime narrative to criminalize “Homeland and Life” performers. This goes from 5,200 “I don’t like it” and barely brings together three hundred “I like it”.
“At this rate the Government is going to end our eardrums. And they will blame Yotuel!”, Joked Israel Saavedra in one of the forums.
In contrast, “Homeland and Life,” which goes from 3 million views on YouTube, totals more than 180,000 “Likes” and about 6,100 “Dislikes.”
The song, which calls for political change in Cuba, will be played at full volume this Saturday in a caravan that will travel through Miami to support the movement it has generated. And on the island, despite arrests, acts of repudiation and vandalism against those who write “Homeland and Life” on the facades of their homes or reproduce it at full volume, the song is already another weapon of struggle for the demanding a change.