The band is called "Porno para Ricardo" which I suppose would translate as "pornography for Richard". Whatever, the Cuban authorities don't like the name, and it seems they don't like the lyrics either. Honestly not surprising when you consider they are a bunch of very old men.
But now they've decided to do something about it by arresting the writer of those lyrics and front man of the four piece band and they want to sending him to jail for four years because he is a "danger" to Cuban society.
But now they've decided to do something about it by arresting the writer of those lyrics and front man of the four piece band and they want to sending him to jail for four years because he is a "danger" to Cuban society.
he doesn't even have proper punk hairstyle.
An interview with the band was published on IMC UK in June with the introduction "* The Cuban Libertarian Movement (MLC) interviewed via internet a punk musical group active in Havana for over 10 years who are today a significant reference in a counter cultural scene that merits recognition and solidarity." 
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401490.html
"Porno para Ricardo" aren't really a widely acknowledged band. In 2007 entries on the group were deleted from both Castilian and English wikipedia sites on the grounds that there was nothing really "notable" about their name, their songs or their presence in the great cascade of human culture which the industrial mass production of the guitar has offered youngsters, who didn't like accordians, for less than a century.
But now they are notable.
& with certain irony for a pop group it's just about now that their website has instead of offering us clips, promos, gig listings and the hope of a t-shirt or signed photograph has instead offered nothing more than a "403 Permission Denied" message.
This isn't the first time that lead singer Gorki has had trouble with Cuban plod. In 2003 he was arrested after a gig under drug charges, which his supporters maintain were false. For him his is a voice which almost uniquely "has the bollox" to criticise the Cuban regime.
Gorki Aguila is 39 years of age & has been visited by his father according to Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban council for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) a group which has in turn argued that there is no legal basis for the charges and reiterated their hope that popular support will see those charges dropped. Accordingly an open letter from a cross section of 150 Cuban artists and musicians has been published and a petition has begun on line. The group CCDHRN are already pressurising for the release of an estimated 300 political prisoners.
It is hoped that members of the diplomatic and international community will attend the court hearings which will be in public. This possibility is heightened by renewed interest at least in Europe for the opening up market commidities to Cuban youth such as mobiles and the recent lifting of EU sanctions on the island. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401532.html
Already the story of Gorki is provoking consternation in the Latin American press, the concept of an arrested punk musician whose lyrics might not have earned him a wikipedia page but are deemed dangerous to the Cuban state might interest people in the English speaking world who are bored of the Daily Mail's "don't grow up like Amy Whitehouse" campaign.
read the interview with them from June :- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401490.html
& this story will be updated.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401490.html "Porno para Ricardo" aren't really a widely acknowledged band. In 2007 entries on the group were deleted from both Castilian and English wikipedia sites on the grounds that there was nothing really "notable" about their name, their songs or their presence in the great cascade of human culture which the industrial mass production of the guitar has offered youngsters, who didn't like accordians, for less than a century.
But now they are notable.
& with certain irony for a pop group it's just about now that their website has instead of offering us clips, promos, gig listings and the hope of a t-shirt or signed photograph has instead offered nothing more than a "403 Permission Denied" message.
This isn't the first time that lead singer Gorki has had trouble with Cuban plod. In 2003 he was arrested after a gig under drug charges, which his supporters maintain were false. For him his is a voice which almost uniquely "has the bollox" to criticise the Cuban regime.
Gorki Aguila is 39 years of age & has been visited by his father according to Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban council for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) a group which has in turn argued that there is no legal basis for the charges and reiterated their hope that popular support will see those charges dropped. Accordingly an open letter from a cross section of 150 Cuban artists and musicians has been published and a petition has begun on line. The group CCDHRN are already pressurising for the release of an estimated 300 political prisoners.
It is hoped that members of the diplomatic and international community will attend the court hearings which will be in public. This possibility is heightened by renewed interest at least in Europe for the opening up market commidities to Cuban youth such as mobiles and the recent lifting of EU sanctions on the island.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401532.html Already the story of Gorki is provoking consternation in the Latin American press, the concept of an arrested punk musician whose lyrics might not have earned him a wikipedia page but are deemed dangerous to the Cuban state might interest people in the English speaking world who are bored of the Daily Mail's "don't grow up like Amy Whitehouse" campaign.
read the interview with them from June :-
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401490.html & this story will be updated.
Comments
Hide the following 8 comments
Drink and drugs
28.08.2008 07:17
\/
Tropical storm Gustav is about to become a hurricane off of Cuba.
28.08.2008 07:24
(We do love you Comandante) - Free Gorki Águila!
[“a juzgar por las contradicciones que se observan en su conducta, de acuerdo a las normas de la moral socialista”
= judging on the contradictions they observe in the conduct and assent to the rules of socialist morality] and the other clauses
["la embriaguez habitual, la dipsomanía, la narcomanía y la práctica de vicios socialmente reprobables" = being generally pissed up to the point of no return and as fun to be around as Bez was and Amy surely is - and oh yes- the long list of habits which are the pride and work of any social reprobate].
It's just like reading a Daily Mail account of a squat eviction in Clapham knowing Clapham is still pronounced Clam when the baliffs move on. Did I mention Gorki has a daughter? Not one "exile" or column writer, or member of the Free market Cuban community, which I believe is led by Gloria Estefan, has thought to reproduce Gorki's lyrics. Nor will I, I'd be translating all day..,
But you've heard it all before & said it yourself - to authority, to plod, to the government with its justice acts, to the back of plod, to the unlisted phone numbers of judges and directors. Gorki is nothing new, just an older than average punk band singer with the usual problems. Professionals generally concur it has something to do with self esteem. I just reckon its fun, & most of all - Cuba needs younger punks, or else its revolution, and this "socialist morality" which most tourists associate not with the place, will never last as fashionably long as a Che t-shirt.
2 closed websites :
An interview with the band in which they lacked the alacrity of waving the anarchist flag about or surely we would have Gorki out of prison before you could spell h-u-n-g-e-r-s-t-r-i-k-e. This is what happens when punks say they're just libertarians.
iosaf
wake up to the repression happening in cuba!
28.08.2008 07:25
of said musican and have read of many more similar situations where these cuban dictators imprison and torture
anyone accused of political dissent. The fucking middleclass dictator loving trots won't have a bad word said against these monsters, what a suprise hey.
ps for the above poster, learn how to spell!!
@narchist
Reported earlier today...
28.08.2008 07:37
Authorities arrested the 39-year-old lead singer of Porno para Ricardo at his Havana home on Monday, shortly after the band had completed work on a new album. Cuban law defines "social dangerousness" as behavior contrary to "communist morality," and police use it to detain offenders before they have a chance to commit a crime.
Performing songs with angry lyrics that poke fun at or openly insult Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, who became Cuba's president in February, Porno para Ricardo is banned from official Cuban airwaves.
The government often applies the "social dangerousness" charge in cases of public drunkenness or as a way to keep large groups of unemployed Cubans — or those simply skipping work — from congregating on city streets during business hours. It is also applied to cases of drug addiction and "anti-social behavior."
Billy No-mates
I fought the law!
28.08.2008 11:36
Inspiring, huh?
phatser
A Peak at official Cuban youth media & the Taekwondo Olympic Fisticuffs.
28.08.2008 20:18
"we are as young as we feel & the referee was asking for it"
In 1977 the team decided to launch the spiffing and dogmatically groovy "Somos Jovenes" (= we are young) which celebrates the best of Cuban youth
Cuban young people love baseball, fixing 1950's cars, mobile phones, martial arts, befriending tourists & needless to say - the love songs of "Buena Vista social club" which expressed dignity through poverty and never ever touched political subjects. Everyone recognises & reveres the immortal voice of Ibrahim Ferrer, 3 years after he died at the noble age of 88 years.
The September issue of "Somos Jovenes" addressed the problem of "social indiscipline" as the cover reproduced here illustrates under the headline "Enjoyment is to care for beauty".
& who could disagree?
This week's message from the Commandante as available from "Rebel Radio" & also reproduced in "Granma" and many (if not all) other publications, has aired his thoughts that the mafia and poor judges were to blame for the weak showing of Cuba at the Beiling Olympics. He also expressed his belief that the Cuban Taekwondo competitor Angel Matos who has been banned form the sport for assaulting the Olympic referee, deserved soldiarity & understanding.
iosaf
Free the children!
28.08.2008 21:54
Freelance Sniper
Gorki Aguila has been released but had to pay a fine
30.08.2008 06:09
that might not seem a lot of money.
So we're talking symbolic gestures.
iosaf