I'm stuck...

Recently I have seen a lot of talk about the international impact of this or that Cuban artist or musical movement. Unfortunately, the perception that the average Cuban, as well as the national artistic guild, has of their music is often marked by misinformation. Also notable is the divorce that many agents of influence have from the broad spectrum of music that is cultivated in Cuba and its diaspora communities, which has been leading the taste of the average Cuban to a very narrow soundtrack, to the detriment of the many genres and trends that are close to the Cuban musical tradition. But we are in 2023, and right now it is not complicated to have access to numbers that describe the current state of Cuban music and its international impact through the streaming. 

These are the 15 Cuban-born artists with the most listeners on Spotify in the last month: 

1. Camila Cabello - 39,118,051 
2. Pitbull - 37,097,330 
3. Gente De Zona - 7,419,497 
4. Gloria Estefan - 6,662,359 
5. Ovi - 5,699,138 
6. Descemer Bueno - 3,230,088 
7. Lenier - 2,200,124 
8. Fresto Music - 2,084,485 
9. The Taiger - 1,905,932 
10. Silvio Rodriguez - 1,851,685 
11. Jacob Forever - 1,423,990 
12. Septeto Acarey - 1,341,775 
13. Francisco Cespedes - 965,723 
14. The 4 - 889,823 
15. Al2 The Villager - 830,458 

In that list there is a variety of trends and many names that have no impact at all among Cubans in the archipelago and their communities abroad. But all of them are internationally successful. 

It is that not even national success as it is measured today is reliable; there are no numbers, or a public use of indicative figures. There are many people who for x or y reason can offer a national tour, play in a square and in many cases it happens that the place starts full and ends empty. Some poster bands will not tell for pity that in some Cuban rural locality they were left playing to the console because the people went to dance with Angelito y Su Banda, Manolito y su Tirijala or the local Organ. Take a chance today to work for the [profit of the] door in deep Cuba as Cándido Fabré does and then we talk about national popularity; Fabré, who rarely appears on Cuban television and is not played by DJs.

In the danceable area played (it is necessary to clarify this taking into account that the cast in practice is sequenced timba), Fresto is the most trending that Cuba has at the international level, and not even in his native Camagüey is known. Also the Septeto Acarey, of the espirituano Reinier Rodriguez, is an important example of ignorance among Cubans of several of their emigrated artists. Sometimes people, as a sign of international success, say that they played in such and such a place; but the way things work today in terms of tours and concerts of Cuban music around the world, generally playing in an important place depends more on the specific weight of the promoter or the agent of the band than on the importance of the band. booking. The Septeto Acarey filled the Azteca Stadium on the strength of popularity, that is international success. In Peru, where supposedly the Cuban music that reigns in Cuba today is successful, promoters and agents have little respect for it, and any cumbia group charges five times what the average Cuban is paid. 

It's not about playing at the Sydney Opera House, it's about filling the Sydney Opera House or the Royal Albert Hall, like Omara, like Eliades..... Silvio Rodríguez has an excess of sold outs in stadiums, bullrings or Carnegie Hall, that's international success. The photo of the post is Silvio's concert in the Zócalo, ask yourself how they manage to get that number of people there without the majority of them being young people.

Whoever likes it and whoever dislikes it, they will be My landGloria Estefan, and the album Buena Vista Social Club (a project that while inactive maintains more than two million monthly listeners on Spotify), the most successful phonographic productions of non-urban Cuban dance music in history. Even in terms of urban music from Cuba, the most successful album globally is Cuban styleby Orishas, it must be for a reason. 

All the swill that is trending among Cubans, wherever they are, very few people are interested beyond cubaneo, even if they are young. Danay Suarez has more monthly listeners on Spotify than La Diosa, and she performed in Viña del Mar, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy in general categories. How many young Cubans listen to Danay Suarez?

These are the artists linked to the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM) with the most listeners on Spotify during the last month. It is not complicated to conclude that if your artist is not in this group it is because he did not reach that level of activity, and his international fan base is still not enough: 

1. Silvio Rodriguez - 1,851,685 
2. The 4 - 889,823 
3. Wampi - 593,398 
4. Omara Portuondo - 550,810 
5. Eliades Ochoa - 441,400

From this list you can draw several conclusions, besides taking your hat off to Silvio. The first is that despite the institutional neglect of our traditions, Omara and Eliades continue to have more international impact than all those who are not on the list. Cuban traditional music is too powerful an asset, but also too overlooked by the institutions. While Zunilda Remigio has become a trending topic In recent days, Ernestina Trimiño and Berta Armiñán have not been recorded. And Arturo Jorge, Felipe Labrada and Celso El Guajiro, who (and this is to help those who, even as decision makers, do not understand this music) also wear hats.

The second has to do with the phenomenon of Wampi and the consolidation of Los 4, which shows that working from Peru can have an international impact if your team works properly. Choose well who you work with, do not despair; but be careful: there must be tumbao. 

A version of this text was originally published on Alden Gonzalez's Facebook profile.