Silvio Rodríguez

Rodríguez was born on November 29, 1946 in San Antonio de los Baños, a fertile valley in Havana
Province known for its tobacco crop. He was raised in a family of poor farmers. His father, Víctor Dagoberto
Rodríguez Ortega, was a farmer and amateur poet who supported socialist causes. His mother, Argelia
Domínguez León, was a housewife. On many occasions Rodríguez has spoken how his love of music was
developed by his mother, who would pass time singing boleros and songs from Santiago. Although Rodríguez
had an uncle who played the bass, his mother had a far greater influence. Later, she also collaborated with him
on a few musical works.

When the Revolution led by Fidel Castro triumphed in January 1959, Rodríguez was only 13 years old, and,
like most Cubans of his generation, became involved in the new Revolutionary enthusiasm. He participated in
the Literacy Campaign held in 1961, and then started working as a comics designer in a magazine. During this
period a friend of his, Lázaro Fundora, taught him how to play the guitar.

He is widely considered Cuba's best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America's greatest singer-
songwriters.[1] Known for his intellectual, highly eloquent and symbolic lyrics, his songs are iconic elements
of Latin American left-leaning intellectual culture. Many of his songs have become classics in Latin American
music, such as "Ojalá", "Playa Girón", "Unicornio" and "La maza". Among his other well-known songs are
"Fusil contra fusil" and "Canción del Elegido". He has released over 20 albums.

Rodríguez, musically and politically, is a symbol of the Latin American left. His lyrics are notably
introspective, while his songs combine romanticism, eroticism, existentialism, revolutionary politics and
idealism. As a humanist, his songs often bespeak a secular worldview, where humanity must make the best of
this world. He has been referred to as "Cuba's John Lennon."[2]

After more than 40 years of artistic work, Rodríguez has now written a vast number of songs and poems (said
to be between 500 and more than one thousand), many of which have never been set to music and probably
never will be. Although his musical knowledge has been continuously increasing (counting among his
teachers the famous Cuban composer Leo Brouwer), he is more widely praised for the poetry in his songs
than for the accompanying music. His lyrics are a staple of leftist culture throughout the whole Spanish-
speaking world, and he has been banned from the media during several of the dictatorial regimes that
ruled Latin America in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

His debut album was Días y flores, launched in 1975. Al final de este viaje and Cuando digo futuro feature
songs he composed before Días y flores. He reached international popularity in the early 1980s with Rabo de
nube and, in particular, Unicornio. In the early part of his career his work displayed a fair amount of
revolutionary optimism. Mujeres, released in 1979, is in contrast a romantic and highly intimist album. In the
middle of his career, Silvio Rodríguez experimented with sounds and rhythms departing from his trademark
acoustic guitar, accompanied by the group Afrocuba (e.g. in Causas y azares). His lyrics became more
introspective, at times even self-absorbed or self-justifying, expressing melancholic longings about the
shortcomings of real-life socialism in Cuba while vindicating idealism and revolutionary hope amongst the
youth. Silvio Rodríguez has been denied a United States visa several times, and it was particularly
controversial in 2009 when he was invited to celebrate the 90th birthday of Pete Seeger. However in 2010, he
obtained a visa and performed at venues in Puerto Rico (May 30), New York (4 and 10 June), Oakland, (12
June), Los Angeles (17 June), Washington, D.C. (19 June) and Orlando (23 June). These were his first
appearances in the United States in 30 years.