Marxism, nationalism and popular music in revolutionary Cuba

Abstract

Among the ever-growing body of publications on popular music, all but a small minority have tended to deal exclusively with the capitalist world. The relative neglect of the workings of popular music in socialist countries has led to an unfortunate lacuna in descriptive studies and, perhaps more importantly, a potential bias in theoretical studies. Popular cultures in socialist states may share many features with their counterparts in the capitalist world, but they are also likely to differ in several important aspects, including, for example, the role of the market, of the bureaucracy, of state cultural policy, the limits on commercialism and the entire ideological climate fostered by socialism. Consequently, many of the theoretical generalisations about popular music, based on studies of the capitalist world, must be revised or qualified when socialist countries are considered.

The Silent Scream of the Locas in Mariposas en el andamio

“…This combination of lyricism, performance and political discourse, which also chimes with the revolutionary aspects of the nueva trova (Manuel, 1987) is also evidenced in what could be regarded as one of the most ideologically charged sequences of this documentary, in which we see Maridalia singing ‘Sí tú eres mi hombre y yo tu mujer’ 3 . Maridalia’s words seem to draw the perfect picture of the relation of the transgender and gay community of Cuba and the government itself.…”

The Consumption of Turkish Tv Series in Cuba: A Study on the Distribution, Access, and Effects of Popular Culture

“…However, today the reality is very different. But we need to consider that the flow of popular culture in socialist countries is different in many aspects such as the role of the market, the state cultural policy and the limits of cultural commercialization (Manuel, 1987). Three examples of the current relevance of Cuba in the global flow of popular culture would be helpful to see the situation more clearly.…”

Singers, Saints, and the Construction of Postcolonial Subjectivities in Algeria

“…The best-known "new song" or "protest song" movements are from Latin America (called nueva canci6n) and Cuba (called nueva trova). See Benmayor 1981, Fairley and Horn 1987, Manuel 1987, Tumas-Serna 1992 3. Festival publications are liberally peppered with quotations from the anthropological literature, but they also critique anthropology's links to colonialism and its use of an "an unscientific cultural pluralism" to "dilute" issues of historical materialism, class struggle, and cultural imperialism.…”