By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. August 29,
2001. CNS News
(CNSNews.com) - Two Florida concert venues announced Wednesday they have
canceled scheduled performances set for next March by a Cuban musical group.
At least one of the concerts was canceled because of planned protests by
Cuban-Americans.
"Cubanismo!", a group of Havana-based musicians featuring
trumpets, flutes and percussion, was scheduled to perform at the King Center for
the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Fla., next March. Melbourne is located in
central Florida near Cape Canaveral.
The group was also in negotiations to perform at the Raymond Kravis Center
for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach but a concert date was never set.
The Cubanismo! cancellations come a week after officials decided to move the
Latin Grammys from Miami to Los Angeles because of fears that Cuban exile
protesters would threaten the safety of both the performers and the audience.
Steve Janicki, executive director of the King Center, told the Orlando
Sentinel that he canceled the performance after receiving several phone calls
and a number of letters after the center's concert schedule was released.
"Our purpose for booking the show was to attract the Latin market,"
Janicki said. Janicki, according to a spokesperson, would not comment any
further when contacted on Wednesday.
The West Palm Beach performance was "cancelled under similar
circumstances," according to John Lochen, booking agent for Cubanismo!.
However, Alison Malcolm, a spokesperson for the Kravis Center, denied that.
She said the concert was never actually booked. "We were in talks to
schedule them for this coming March but there was never a contract and it was
never a part of the official (concert) calendar," said Malcolm.
When asked if Cuban-Americans planned to protest the group's West Palm Beach
appearance, Malcolm said, "No, because [the concert] was never scheduled."
One of those who planned to protest the group's Melbourne concert appearance
was Fernando Dominicis, a Cuban-American living in Melbourne.
"It is a Cuban band and it doesn't represent Cuban musicians, it
represents the Castro government. All those bands when they come here, they
represent the (Cuban) cultural ministry and they only get a small portion of all
the money they collect. The rest goes to the Castro government," Dominicis
said.
Dominicis also said, "Can you imagine Hitler with a musical band and
sending them to perform in Israel? This is the same effect as Cubanismo playing
in Melbourne. It's a pure insult."
The Cuban-American National Foundation, an anti-Castro group based in Miami
had similar sentiments.
"The problem with having Cuban artists come from the island is that the
Cuban exile community really considers them for what they truly are, which are
ambassadors of Fidel Castro," according to CANF spokesperson Mariela
Ferretti.
"If you are a dissident musician inside of Cuba or even just somebody
who may not be a dissident but does not tow the (communist) party line, you are
not going to receive the permission of the Castro government to travel abroad
and play your music and display your talent. It's as simple as that."
The CANF also believes the Cuban-American community is justified in opposing
Cubanismo! concerts in Florida, according to Ferretti.
"It's a very difficult position because on the one hand, we are
interested in sending a message that we have a tolerant community, but at the
same time, we exercise our right to protest which is guaranteed by the
Constitution of the United States.
"As long as those protests are within the peaceful parameters like
letters and phone calls are, then people are just exercising their right to say
'I don't agree with the presence of Cuban artists', Ferretti said.
Cuban artists, Ferretti concluded, "represent a dictatorship and have
privileges that are not extended to other Cuban musicians who are not allowed to
travel abroad, and they represent a tyranny that has caused tremendous pain not
only to Cubans but to people around the (Central American) region."
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