“Cuba on the Brink:” Ireland’s Hotpress Covers Cuban Music’s Current Fragmentation and Fragility

Dear readers, a quick note this morning to pass on a story that was published in this month’s Hotpress magazine out of Dublin.

I was happy to be contacted by journalist Liam Cunningham about this topic. And very pleased to support a venerable music magazine that is still going strong.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to produce, rehearse, record, and present projects with any stability” the Cuban musician and cultural producer X Alfonso told Cunningham for the article, titled “Cuba on the Brink.”

“Many artists have emigrated, as has the audience that consumes quality art, and this has fragmented scenes that were once very strong.

“‘We are fucked up in general,” Alfonso added.

The story touches on religion and drug addiction in Cuba, as well as emigration and the successes of young Cuban musicians have found through digital media.

Hotpress.com link: https://www.hotpress.com/opinion/cuba-on-the-brink-many-artists-have-emigrated-as-has-the-audience-that-consumes-quality-art-and-this-has-fragmented-scenes-that-were-once-very-strong-23157637

X Alfonso's Requiem for Cuba

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May 22

X Alfonso’s new album AIRE, released today, ends with his song “Interrogante” (“Question Mark”), a rock-rap ballad that questions complicity in a society “that blinds us more and more,” that he first recorded in 2006. Earlier this month, Alfonso released the new version of that