IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 107

Is the impersonation a kind
of art in Cuba?
Nonardo Perea
Havana Cuba
was just 18 years when a gay
person brought me for the first time
to a house where impersonation
was secretly and illegally performed.
Before reaching the venue at the Capri
neighborhood, in the municipality of
Arroyo Naranjo, my companion gave
me instructions on what to say, with
special emphasis on impersonating the
singer and actress Mirtha Medina. To be
frank, I had already gone to some of her

I

concerts and she looked excellent, but
wasn’t my favorite. Eventually I discovered that the interest of my companion was to make the things more difficult around one of the hosts, who despite having black skin and being too
old, impersonated the white-skinned
Medina. He shared his life with the
other host, who had chosen to impersonate mestizo singer Fara María.

At first I did not understand impersonation and it seemed laughable to me to
enter a world where everything was
virtually a farce. The shows were on
Saturdays and Sundays; the house was
crowded with gay people coming just to
see and enjoy. What they admired the

most were the costumes, because no one
sang with his voice, but mimicked the
songs played in a Russian tape recorder.
Without hardly realizing it, I ended up a
good day inside an improvised dressing
room, with neither clothes nor shoes of
good quality to wear, learning how to

107