Reggaeton fever shakes up Cuba`s culture

(REGGAETON, CUBAN, MUSIC, OFFICIAL, LATIN, CULTURAL, CUBA`S)

By Esteban Israel
HAVANA (Reuters) - To record his next hit El Micha, one of the rising stars of Cuba`s reggaeton music blending reggae, Latin and electronic rhythms, just has to knock on his neighbor`s door.
A microphone plugged into an old computer in an apartment in Havana`s working-class suburb of Reparto Electrico serves as the studio where some of Cuba`s most successful reggaeton songs are recorded.
"Reggaeton is unstoppable because it is recorded at home. It is totally independent," says Michael "El Micha" Sierra, 27, a former basketball player whose bottom row of gold teeth flash when he gives one of his frequent broad smiles.
With little official support or air time on state-controlled radio, the songs Cuban reggaeton artists record in makeshift studios lined with egg cartons for sound insulation are mostly transmitted though homemade CDs and on computer flash memory sticks.
That is how the tropical fever of reggaeton is sweeping communist-ruled Cuba, captivating its youth and enraging a cultural establishment alarmed by the vulgarity of some of its lyrics, which include phrases like "Coge mi tubo" ("Grab my pipe") and "Metela" ("Stick it in").
"Cubans know about music and if they picked reggaeton they have to be respected. The people are the ones who decide," said Sierra.
Reggaeton, a cocktail of reggae, Latin and electronic rhythms, first emerged in Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s and has
spread rapidly though Latin America. In Cuba, it is played on crowded buses, shakes neighborhood windows with its throbbing bass and packs discos night after night.
Its vibrations even seem to be shaking Cuba`s cultural establishment, decades after the island shook the entertainment music world with its native-born mambo and cha cha cha.
Like hip hop, its relative, reggaeton chronicles real life in the streets. But its popularity stems from a catchy, sensual rhythm that is perfectly suited for dance-crazy Cubans.
OFFICIAL ALARM OVER "NEOLIBERAL" MUSIC
"Teachers and family cannot be naive regarding this matter," warned state-controlled TV as it showed 6-year-olds doing covers of Puerto Rican reggaeton megastar Daddy Yankee.
That was the latest sign of official alarm over what the authorities see as a vulgarization of Cuban culture.
The official daily Juventud Rebelde called reggaeton a reflection of "neoliberal thinking" and Culture Minister Abel Prieto said it should be "pushed away."
"In the cultural world there is concern about the excessive popularity of reggaeton," Julian Gonzalez, president of the National Council for Visual Arts, told Reuters.  Continued...
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