IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 101

Song 11. “Calle B. En la mismísima
calle G, Avenida de los Presidentes” is
sung by Alesey—“there is a monument
to José Miguel Gómez Knock it
down!!!!” shouts Magia and the chorus.
This is commonly heard because with
this monument “they are shamelessly
glorifying racism.” Graffiti artists are
called upon to work on this monument
and use it tell the President’s history.
Nothing is known about him, but his
acts have also been erased from our
educational system.

In this song, Alexey talks crazy, not
holding anything back, about the racism
in the Cuban cultural system. One of the
lines says: “Don’t pay attention to him,
he doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s
just that his grandfather/fought with the
Mambí soldiers…”
Song 7. ¿Did you see? This song talks
about the race issue on an international
level, using Haiti as an example. If offers a chronicle of the natural disasters
that have afflicted the impoverished
nation.

Song 12. “Outro.” The voice of our poet
Nicolás Guillén says: “It’s over!”

Song 8. “Mi belleza.” In this song, Magia recites a beautiful poem about her
beauty. This is far from the “Eurocentric [concepts] speaking,” to
strengthen the pure soul’s beauty and
invite us to admire it with our gaze.

Today, Obsesión has its own performance space at its own home. There
they share their original music and that
of other community artists

Song 9. “Abakuá.” Alexey and El Adversario make an urgent call for the
Abakua’s original values, which are
centered on family goodness, and body
and soul loyalty above all else, even in
death. Like good teachers, they sing to
us about the rules that new generations
are breaking, and the respect that culture’s profoundest tenets. Any Cuban
who walks our streets with our youth
agrees that this is an important subject
and, I