South African Artist expresses Support for Cuba through Music

Pretoria,  (Prensa Latina) South African percussionist and music producer Dan Chiorboli will organize concerts in Cuba with the participation of musicians from both countries, as part of the support for the island during times of greater pressure from the United States.

 

Chiorboli is the creator of the so-called Liberation Project, which intends to honor the countries that maintained their support for South Africa during its struggle against apartheid.

The South African musician of Italian origin, who has performed all over the world and worked on the production of more than 200 albums, told Prensa Latina in this capital that he knew through his mother and grandmother from an early age the sonorities of the island. .

When offering his considerations on the new measures of the United States against Cuba, he described them as shameful and reflected 'on the contrary to what we want in the current world'.

'We are not politicians, but from the artistic point of view we need to project and support Cuba,' he said after recalling the important role of artists worldwide against apartheid in South Africa and his assurance that the time has come to repeat those actions in support of Cuba.

It is very important to help Cuba as musical activists, in addition to making young people understand what is happening, what is the culture of the United States blockade against that nation and what we must do to achieve its elimination, he added.

Meanwhile, Chiorboli pointed out that his connection with Cuban music is maintained through two of his main friends; the British producer and guitarist Phil Manzanera and the Cuban Juan Marco González, of the Buenavista Social.

In his statements he recalled that he returned to South Africa with the aim of producing a CD with 12 or 14 songs linked to the liberation struggles and finished with 57 songs and the participation of 142 musicians from 18 countries, among them the young Cuban jazz musician Michel Herrera, who last March recorded in Johannesburg a title dedicated to the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

According to his plans, he will travel to Cuba in September with the intention of expressing his solidarity with that country through music, in performances with the participation of interpreters from both countries.

As for the stay in South Africa of Michel Herrera and his group a few months ago, he highlighted the collaboration of the young saxophonist in that theme that Chiroboli created to remember the famous battle where the troops of the South African racist regime and fighters from Angola and Cuba fought against each other.

This battle is considered the beginning of the end of the war in the neighboring country and of apartheid.

In September, Chiorboli awaits the return to South Africa of Herrera and Gonzalez to participate in concerts in this country and in neighboring Botswana.

According to his intentions, that presence of the renowned musicians of the island will be used to organize in this province of Gauteng a Cuban night, which will pay tribute to the 25 years of democracy in South Africa and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.