Silvio will carry with him the indomitable fighting spirit of the Cuban troubadours

At seven o’clock on the evening of Friday 19th September, the University of Havana Steps will once again host, in concert, the cherished singing of the troubadour Silvio Rodríguez. It will be the preamble to his upcoming tour of different countries of our America.

The enormous expectation that this presentation has motivated in Chile as well as in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Colombia is news, to the point that, due to the insistent demand of his thousands of followers, the dates originally planned for the concerts have had to be extended.

Such demand confirms to us the significance of this tour in the tough and difficult circumstances through which humanity is passing. Those who already have the tickets in their hands know that they will have the satisfaction of experiencing deep emotions with one of the main exponents of committed song; a term which, although barely used these days, has not at all lost its extraordinary validity.

Faced with the question of why committed song, they will find the answer in a decided approach to the human condition as an inescapable reason for daily happenings, expressed in songs marked by principles that dignify us as a species.

These are compositions committed to the indispensable courage needed to be able to defend that dedication which nourishes hope, for the love with which we must assume the fact of existence, even in the most complex situations in which we might find ourselves.

It is a call to civicism from song, so as not to let ourselves be alienated by a selfish frivolity, as if there were no other perspectives of considerable spiritual baggage for which it is also worth being alive.

In the full celebration of the 55 years of Silvio’s artistic career, as well as the 50 years since the appearance of the emblematic album Días y Flores, those who decide to attend the mentioned concerts will be there because they long to share the songs of the legendary troubadour who has his sword in the guitar, that which demands to be embraced tightly amidst the combat to achieve a better possible world from the fervour of his verses.

In each of these performances, the acclaimed singer-songwriter will be accompanied by magnificent musicians of proven quality, such as Emilio Vega on vibraphone, Jorge Aragón on piano, Niurka González on flute and clarinet, Jorge Reyes on double bass, Rachid López on guitar, Maykel Elizarde on the tres, and Oliver Valdés on drums.

But Silvio will also bring with him the indomitable fighting spirit of the Cuban troubadours, both that of those who are no longer physically among us, since we resist them being forgotten, as well as that of those who preserve the vitality of the Nueva Trova on the beloved Island.

Those of us who go to the Steps concert will participate in an emotional family reunion with the one who more than 40 years ago left us with the following reflection in the book Que levante la mano la guitarra: “I am a man with his vision of the world, a man who has taken sides. From which it results that I am inviting everyone to join my side, which is the side of the Revolution and beauty.”