The Cuban Heavy Metal Band That Joined the Communist Regime

00:01:23 Fidel Castro faced a near. total economic collapse

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,

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,

Cuba's post-Soviet openness to rock

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.