Silvio Rodriguez

How does one describe Silvio's music to someone who has never heard it or the other singers of nueva trova (new song)?

I could say it's very popular; he performed at a stadium last year in Chile to an audience of 90,000! I could list some of his influences: Leadbelly, traditional Cuban singers like Sindo Garay, The Beatles, Victor Jara, Violeta Parra, Tschaikovsky and Beethoven, Bob Dylan, Ché, Pablo Neruda, Neil Young, and popular Cuban music (what is often called salsa).

I could say that if you think Cuban music is all rumbas and cha-cha-chas you'll be surprised. It's pop music with beautiful and sophisticated lyrics mixed with some typical Cuban stylings: a Latin bass line propelling rock chord changes for example.

Mr. Silvio R. lives in a modest house in the suburbs of Havana. We talked on his front porch, exchanging writing and recording methods over some wonderful Spanish wine. We stayed for a lunch of picadillo, rice and string bean salad, then drank more wine and talked of musical influences. Silvio mentioned a Library of Congress recording of Leadbelly on which he improvises a song accompanied by percussion played on bottles and chairs. The similarity to Cuban roots music became obvious. The rumba and guaguanco are also largely improvised. But Cuban music has evolved in many directions since then.

Since 1961, there has been a U.S. economic blockade over Cuba. Cuban music was previously promoted and disseminated mainly by U.S.-owned multinational record companies, and when this distribution ceased, knowledge of fresh musical developments in many placed stopped. Most remember "Babaluâ" on I Love Lucy and "The Peanut Vendor." Well, things have changed a lot since then. The Cubans have continued to have access to outside music, but what was evolving and being created on the island was not always getting out as before. (David Byrne, November 1990) —Courtesy Calabash Music