7/13/2023 0 Comments Gente de zona patria y vida![]() ![]() “People in Cuba who write to me are really moved by the song - it’s become like a shield amid the adversity they’re facing. However, none of those efforts were enough to keep the message of “Patria Y Vida” from spreading. That’s just one of the ways the Cuban government has seemingly tried to derail the momentum of “Patria Y Vida.” Shortly after the song’s release, op-eds denouncing the track as “full of hate,” as well as a response song defending the original slogan, appeared in pro-government publications. Osorbo, in fact, was arrested by Cuban authorities after the song’s release and accused, according to the pro-government publication Cubadebate, of “crimes of attack, public disorder, and escape of prisoners or detainees.” He has been detained for more than 40 days. Malcolm adds, “These are artists who are willing to give their life for their country.” “Involving them was key since they’re rappers and people who have struggled against the dictatorship even while being in Cuba - as we say in Cuba, ‘tienen los huevos bien puesto’ ,” Delgado says. The two rappers recorded their verses in secret and sent them back to the other artists, who got the track mixed in Miami. While Romero and Gente de Zona now live in Miami, Osorbo and El Funky still reside on the island and took a risk by openly rebuking the country’s leadership. However, once they started writing in the studio, they realized they wanted to do a completely new song that provided an unflinching look at what Delgado calls “the reality in Cuba.” Delgado and Malcom told Rolling Stone in a phone interview in Spanish that Romero had reached out to them about getting together for a remix. The collaboration fell into place seamlessly: Romero had been close to Alexander Delgado and Randy Malcom, the members of Gente de Zona, for years, having known them since their days in Cuba. We no longer shout, ‘Motherland or death,’ but ‘homeland and life,’ and we begin to build what we dreamed, what they destroyed with their hands.” The title “Patria Y Vida” (“homeland and life”) is a bitter play on “patria o muerte” (“homeland or death”), a popular slogan associated with the rise of the communist leader Fidel Castro in the late Fifties. My people ask for freedom, not more doctrines. The lyrics take direct aim at Cuba’s communist government: “No more lies. The Cuban artists Yotuel Romero, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo, Eliécer “el Funky” Márquez, and the reggaeton duo Gente de Zona collaborated on the rap track and released it in February, after which it amassed more than six million views on YouTube. Social media videos captured Cubans marching through city streets, shouting “Libertad!” But amid the cries for “Freedom!” another refrain was heard over and over again: “Patria y vida!” a reference to a song of the same name that’s quickly become the anthem for a nation that’s reached a boiling point. Historic protests swept Cuba on Sunday as thousands of people gathered across the island and expressed their outrage over longstanding economic hardships, food scarcity, and vaccine shortages, marking one of the country’s biggest anti-government demonstrations in the last decade.
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