Pedro Luis, this is your home!

Andres Castellanos
13.05.2024
2 minutes reading

(...) In all quadrants, it is still night.

Roberto Manzano

First came the darkness.

Many years later, a queue in blackout in front of the Mejunje de Silverio threatens to collapse the place. Eight years have passed since that night in 2016, Longina through, in which Teatro La Caridad vibrated with Pedro Luis Ferrer. A theater that continuously receives poetic impacts, ends up needing repair every so often. Too much beauty can change you; Santa Clara knows it.

Photos of Andrés Castellanos

I confess: at that time I had very vague references of Pedro Luis Ferrer's work. When I left that concert, I was just another fan.

2024. The audience enters the courtyard of the Mejunje, still in the dark. Full bleachers, full floor, full ceiling. The small spaces that remain free belong to the absentees. Management through, the current returns and doubts are dispelled: the concert goes on.

Photos of Andrés Castellanos

Pedro Luis, Lena and Reinaldo Ferrer on sound, together with pianist Luvia Deniz, come on stage. There is applause, shouts, more applause. The wait is over.

Then, the avalanche. Music and voices that emerge from the depths of the island. A Cuban who assumes his truths, verses of a poet who does not lose faith in his land. One on top of the other, laughter and tears; a mirror placed in front of the pain; an antidote against oblivion.

Two hours later, the broken souls in the storm reassemble. The music ends. The cantor falls silent. Some return to their homes, others make the night their home. But no matter which way they go, a tiny spark is lit deep inside each one.

The light will inevitably shine.