17-12-2009, 06:38 PM
A while back, I stumbled upon an interview with Fidel Castro in which he was accused of injustice toward a Cuban poet. "You say this fellow is a poet," he responded. "Anyone can claim to be a poet. I don't know that he's a poet. When I think of a poet, I think of Lorca, Neruda, Marti."
These, Castro made clear, were his favorite poets.
The patriot poet Marti, of course, is the Cuban national poet and a natural favorite. The Havana airport is named for him.
Neruda was a communist party member who, as a Chilean government official in the 1930s, did his part in the campaign to murder Trotsky.
His great work, the Canto General, was to be performed in the Santiago stadium in September 1973, and he watched the rehearsals. Then the coup struck and the stadium became a prison. It is now named Victor Jara Stadium after the Revolutionary singer who was tortured and killed there.
The Canto General was, however, performed a year later upon the overthrow of the Greek junta, and would be performed later in Havana with Castro in attendance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwxVdDFl...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwxVdDFl...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2rx8eO0...re=related
But it was Lorca whose name led Castro's short list of Spanish poets, and he had been neither a Cuban nor a communist. He had been loyal to the Spanish Republic and the Falange had killed him for it. His Romancero Gitano was a series of Gypsy tales.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtV6nb3tJ...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kHosFhO...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCx8GS9H...re=related
These, Castro made clear, were his favorite poets.
The patriot poet Marti, of course, is the Cuban national poet and a natural favorite. The Havana airport is named for him.
Neruda was a communist party member who, as a Chilean government official in the 1930s, did his part in the campaign to murder Trotsky.
His great work, the Canto General, was to be performed in the Santiago stadium in September 1973, and he watched the rehearsals. Then the coup struck and the stadium became a prison. It is now named Victor Jara Stadium after the Revolutionary singer who was tortured and killed there.
The Canto General was, however, performed a year later upon the overthrow of the Greek junta, and would be performed later in Havana with Castro in attendance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwxVdDFl...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwxVdDFl...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2rx8eO0...re=related
But it was Lorca whose name led Castro's short list of Spanish poets, and he had been neither a Cuban nor a communist. He had been loyal to the Spanish Republic and the Falange had killed him for it. His Romancero Gitano was a series of Gypsy tales.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtV6nb3tJ...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kHosFhO...re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCx8GS9H...re=related