Cuban singer Silvio Rodríguez returns to N.Y. after 31 years
BY Maite Junco
Originally Published:Tuesday, May 4th 2010, 3:47 PM
Updated: Thursday, May 6th 2010, 3:00 PM
The wait is over for fans of Cuban music legend Silvio Rodríguez.
Thirty-one years after last playing in New York, the “nueva trova” pioneer returns on June 4 to Carnegie Hall.
The 63-year-old singer/songwriter, known for politically controversial lyrics but also for poetically romantic songs, was persona non-grata in the U.S. for decades.
His most recent visa troubles were last May when he was invited but couldn’t travel to perform at Pete Seeger?a>??s 90th birthday tribute at Madison Square Garden.
“I tried to be with you again today,” Rodríguez wrote in a published letter to Seeger back then, “but, as you well know, those who don’t want the U.S. and Cuba to get together, to sing, to talk, to find understanding, didn’t allow me to.”
Rodríguez, whose hits include “Ojalá” and “Unicornio,” will also make stops in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico.
He last performed in the city on February 1979 in a joint concert with his compatriot Pablo Milanés at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, according to a newspaper account from the time.
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2010/05/05/2010-05-05_a_long_trip_from_cuba_to_carnegie.html