Cuba's post-Soviet openness to rock
This is the heavy metal band Zeus,
whose lead singer spent. 6 years in a Cuban prison
in the early 90's.
Locked up for having long hair
and other rock music related offenses.
But a decade later,
Zeus joined up with the government
as part of a new state bureaucracy
called the agency of rock.
Did the band sell out,
or were they making a necessary compromise
to bring more cultural and. artistic freedom to Cuba?
That's the main question. posed by the new documentary,
Los Ultimos Frikis, out now in VOD.
The film, which was shot. between 2009 and 2019,
charts the rise and fall of Zeus
after a period in which Cuba's. communist government jailed
and tortured musicians,. artists, activists, writers,
and other free-thinking freaks.
Rock music had become a. popular outlet for the angst
and aspirations of young. Cubans starting in the 1970's.
By the 80's, however,
communist government officials. started to crack down
on these anti-authoritarian headbangers,
whose work they branded a dangerous,
ideological diversion from the revolution.
Up through the early 90's,
many rockers continue to be imprisoned,
including Dioni who is the. central character in the film,
but after the fall of the Soviet Union
cutoff Cuba's primary source of revenue.
The country's dictator,
Fidel Castro faced a near. total economic collapse
and was forced to accept some cultural
and market liberalization
in exchange for foreign investment.
Around that time Dioni. was released from prison
and he proceeded to find even greater fame
as the lead singer of Zeus,
but as director, Nicholas Brennan,
chronicles in the documentary,
came with strings attached.
The government presented the. band with a Faustian bargain.
Partner with the newly. created agency of rock,
and in exchange,
Zeus would be able to. perform before huge crowds
at the only major rock venue in Havana.
Zeus, and I think just. rock and roll in general
was seen historically.
