Output details

Guantanamera

The work asks three questions: How might an artwork might mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution in 2009? How might the figure of José Martí be re-inscribed into Guantanamera, Cuba’s most internationally recognised song? What presentational modes reflect the concept of the political as antagonism (Schmitt, Mouffe) which describes the conflict between domicile and exiled Cuban communities? The political context was the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution (2009); the transition of power from Fidel to Raul Castro; Obama’s US presidential campaign which promised the closure of the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. The historical context was the figure of the Cuban national poet and martyr José Martí (1853-1895) who is celebrated by both pro-Castro and ant-Castro Cubans alike and whose Versos Sencillos provide the lyrics for Guantanamera. The geographical context navigated the antagonistic relations between Cuban communities in Cuba and in exile in Miami, USA. The theoretical context of aesthetic decisions was the ‘irreducible character of antagonism’ at the heart of the concept of the political as articulated in the writings of Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (1927) and Chantal Mouffe The Return of the Political (1993). The cultural context includes Pete Seeger’s 1963 recording of Guantanamera as a solidarity song and the subsequent de-politicized transformation of the music as a ‘universal’ football chant; the collective/individual voice in the recording of full band and acapella versions of the song; the strategic/propaganda role played by radio during the guerrilla war (1959) and which continues today in the presence of the US-Cuban Radio Martî. The method was to document the recording and broadcast of versions of Guantanamera in Guantanamo and Havana (2008) and Little Havana, Miami (2009). These resulted in two 45 min films, a two-channel installation and a Double A side vinyl record.