Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Varela is set to launch a six-city US tour in May, with hopes to bring the two countries a bit closer.
Varela, often dubbed as Cuba’s Bob Dylan, last performed a concert tour in the US in 1998 but staged an impromptu show for Congress members in Washington last December while they lobby for new US policy on communist-led Cuba.
The 47-year-old Nueva trova artist along with his band will tour the US amidst latest tensions caused by the arrest of a US contractor who was suspected of espionage in Cuba last December, and the death of a Cuban political prisoner while on a hunger strike earlier this year.
In a recent interview with Reuters, the bearded-black-clad singer said that his music, known for its metaphorical social criticism, cannot bridge by themselves the political gap arising between the two nations.
”But they can touch a man's heart.
Varela’s concert tour is the latest in a string of cultural exchanges under the administration of US President Barack Obama, which considers them as a way to boost people-to-people contact with Cuba.
Varela believes that the cultural exchanges will live through the renewed US-Cuban hostility and foresees more US musicians will soon perform in his country.
In addition to LA, Varela’s other US stops include Boston, Oakland, Chicago and New York. He is also set to perform in a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 16 May and in private events in Sonoma and San Francisco, California.
Varela, often dubbed as Cuba’s Bob Dylan, last performed a concert tour in the US in 1998 but staged an impromptu show for Congress members in Washington last December while they lobby for new US policy on communist-led Cuba.
The 47-year-old Nueva trova artist along with his band will tour the US amidst latest tensions caused by the arrest of a US contractor who was suspected of espionage in Cuba last December, and the death of a Cuban political prisoner while on a hunger strike earlier this year.
In a recent interview with Reuters, the bearded-black-clad singer said that his music, known for its metaphorical social criticism, cannot bridge by themselves the political gap arising between the two nations.
”But they can touch a man's heart.
Varela’s concert tour is the latest in a string of cultural exchanges under the administration of US President Barack Obama, which considers them as a way to boost people-to-people contact with Cuba.
Varela believes that the cultural exchanges will live through the renewed US-Cuban hostility and foresees more US musicians will soon perform in his country.
In addition to LA, Varela’s other US stops include Boston, Oakland, Chicago and New York. He is also set to perform in a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 16 May and in private events in Sonoma and San Francisco, California.
RSS Feed