IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH february 2017 | Page 75

to settle for a small room as a stage and no more than thirty people as a public . We had the possibility to amplify neither our beats nor our voices with the usual power , since we only had a few small computer speakers . I did not see fists up after ending a performance , but I noticed a lot of receptivity among the attendees . All of them established a close relationship with every dialogue generated from the speakers . It was a space of participatory and inclusive exchange , with plastic artists , musicians , human rights activists , members of the LGBTI community and other guests who interacted and brought their experiences to the deliberative atmosphere we all created there . After a discreet and quick presentation by Marthadela Tamayo , facilitator in Cuba of the magazine Identidades , Juan Antonio Madrazo , Coordinator of the Citizen Committee for Racial Integration ( CIR ), explained how the Cuban government has not produced any real change in the social condition of the Afro-descendants . They are living in a similar way as they did before 1959 . Madrazo also looked at the disparities and the racial discrimination in the labor market , where the black population is in a position of total detriment and marginality . After him , a Cuban Spoken Work ´ s artist and others from the plastic arts made their presentations . Finally , we had the turn to “ throw it .” That ´ s how the great majority of rappers refers to the act of singing . Total silence in the room and our performance begins . The musician El Nene ( 9 mm ) — as he is known in the Cuban rap scene — integrates with me the duo La Alianza ( The Alliance ). He began with a poem related to racial discrimination and , especially , to the importance of feeling as an Afro-descendant in a country where , allegedly , the racial problems are a matter of the past . After him , it was my turn . I had thought to deliver something lighter in content , but since I couldn ’ t generally express and externalize my feelings , due to the censorship against the so-called underground artists , I decided to perform a poem entitled FSRSF ( fruits , seeds , roots , stems and flower ). It speaks of my feeling about problems I experienced and observed in a society full of prejudices and marked by a totalitarian and retrograde regime . From a personal point of view , as a way of relief and without further pretension , I offer these verses to the readership .
A cigarette , a coffee , a comforting song . In a verse that was gone , a disappointment , a yearning . Ladies in White and handkerchiefs that pretend to be the flags In parades of a people that awaits freedom . How many springs , summers , winters Those who allowed that the tender was taken away from us , Who erased your ideas from the notebook And turned this angelic island into hell . How can this situation be possible ? And with so many options available , they tell you that there is no option . How can it be possible to forgive them ? If they do not forgive you , whether you ´ re right or not . How can I ask why our solution Wouldn ´ t be the most convenient for this revolution . Here where dreams are fed with despair It is easier to cry due to impotence that to give your opinion .
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