/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-CUBA: Former Beatle Makes Surprise Visit

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jan 25 2000 (IPS) - There was no prior announcement about his arrival, not one photograph recorded the event for posterity, and very few people actually saw him in person. Even so, Paul McCartney’s visit to Cuba did not go unnoticed.

The former Beatle spent just a few hours in Santiago de Cuba, 967 km east of Havana, but his presence immediately transformed into legend.

McCartney walked the streets of Santiago, took in Cuban music, patiently tolerated passersby calling him John (Lennon) and signed autographs. Before leaving, he wrote “Viva la Revolución” and promised to return.

News of McCartney’s presence spread like wildfire throughout Cuba, where official policy once designated The Beatles as symbols of “imperialist ideology,” ands songs like “Yesterday” and “Michelle” were censored until 1966.

Fans in Santiago ran through the streets, desperately searching for him, while in Havana, a week later, Beatles-lovers continue debating between their amazement and their nostalgia.

“Today is not All Fool’s Day,” was the first thing to cross Maria Gattorno’s mind when she heard the news on local radio Jan 15. She has been considered the soul of Cuba’s rock music community since 1998 when she created the only performance space for rock musicians on the island, known as Maria’s Patio.

“The rock musicians of today prefer Metallica, but their T- shirts sport pictures of Lennon,” the music promoter told IPS. Gattorno says she missed out on what would have been the happiest moment of her life in not seeing McCartney.

She affirms that in Cuba “The Beatles are taken as a model, a starting point for music that represents rupture and rebellion.”

Journalist Dixie Edith lamented that “Paul passed through like that, without warning, instead of coming to some of the seminars held in Cuba every year about the international transcendence of The Beatles.”

The seminar organisers, sponsored by the National Writers and Artists Union (a government-based institution), have repeatedly invited the members of the Liverpool quartet to participate, but have never received a positive reply.

Now, as censorship has ceded to what Cuban novelist Leonardo Padura calls “Beatlemania a posteriori,” McCartney’s private jet lands at the Santiago de Cuba international airport.

When he was asked to identify himself, control tower workers heard, “It’s Paul McCartney and two of his children.” After a long silence, the controller asked again, “Who?!” “McCartney, from The Beatles,” he responded.

The musician himself later said that when he opened the aircraft’s door, word had already spread throughout the airport terminal and a large group of people had gathered to greet him.

After the airport, McCartney visited Santiago de Cuba’s historic district and the Castle del Morro, declared a Heritage of Humanity site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

At the fort, he left the only evidence of his stop on the island when he wrote in the guestbook: “Many thanks. Viva la Revolución.”

The musician visited the old Moncada barracks, where in 1953 Fidel Castro launched his fight against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. He also stopped at the Tree of Peace, where Spain signed its surrender to the United States in 1899.

As a grande finale marking the end of his stay, McCartney spent an hour listening to ‘sones,’ ‘boleros’ and ‘guarachas’ at the Casa de la Trova, sharing music with José Aquiles and René Urquijo, veterans of Cuba’s traditional music.

“I know,” said McCartney, “I know this music,” when someone tried to explain how to play the Cuban music’s basic rhythm.

He told Urquijo and Aquiles that his visit to Santiago was a dream come true, because friends had told him about the city, its “hospitality and joy, its architectural beauty, and because it is a birthplace for music.”

Before leaving, he bought recordings of Cuban musicians Benny Moré and Eliades Ochoa, while his children completed the collection with compact disks of the island’s famous groups, including Los Van Van, the Aragón Orchestra, Adalberto Alvarez and Son, and NG the Band.

Beyond the constant media attention during his visit, McCartney did not comment on Cuban music, he did not say if he had been familiar with the music during his early days in Liverpool, nor did he comment on The Beatles’ influence on local musicians.

Those who accompanied him during his few hours on the island reported that the former Beatle had said his visit was a necessary personal encounter with Cuba and that it would not be the last.

“Perhaps the next time will be in Havana,” McCartney reportedly said.