No one. No one has come out unscathed since the COVID-19 outbreak, that planetary tsunami, began to decimate it all in January. The situation is uncertain everywhere, and the music industry stands out among the worst unemployed.<\/p>\n
In Cuba, concerts and other activities involving crowds were the first to be canceled. The explanation is simple \u2014and macabre\u2014: music brings people together, and the fight against the new coronavirus separates them. Therefore, the crowds will be the last to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know how we are going to recover our work, which depends on nightclubs, and these in turn depend on their greater capacity. A very strong period is coming for the entire music sector\u201d, says Kelvis Ochoa.<\/p>\n
"The greatest impact has been not being able to play: I really like live performances, it's what I like most about what I do," says L\u00e1zaro Pe\u00f1a, pianist and co-director of Nube Roja.<\/p>\n
Virtually every player in the industry has gotten their share. The pandemic has had a brutal influence on the economy of workers in the sector, on musicians, sound engineers, stage technicians, lighting technicians, and the staff<\/em> usually.<\/p>\n Festivals like Havana World Music and La Fiesta del Tambor were postponed or suspended, and there will be no carnivals either. Presentations abroad, of paramount importance for most artists, have suffered a similar fate; as well as rehearsals and recordings.<\/p>\n "I have suspended about three tours, around 50 concerts, and the release of an album for which I had been working for almost a year," notes pianist Harold L\u00f3pez-Nussa. "We've had to reinvent ourselves a little bit, and direct the energy elsewhere."<\/p>\n https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/magazine-am-pm\/harold-lopez-nussa-covid-19\/s-6cdHViqJoJY<\/p>\n "Everything we had planned in the studio, to continue with the phonographic projects we were working on, we had to stop it," says Isnay Rodr\u00edguez (Dj Jig\u00fce), founder of the independent label Gu\u00e1mpara Music.<\/p>\n Emptiness is equivalent to losing the ground underfoot. \u201cThe annual calendar that is organized to guarantee a stable, constant job, so that one's professional development is at an advanced stage and we have things to do\u2026 All of that went down a barrel without a bottom; the work of an entire year disappeared\u201d, specifies Daym\u00e9 Arocena.<\/p>\n Days ago, during the program Round table<\/em>, the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, announced that in the first phase of the recovery rehearsals are reestablished and a "controlled reopening" of the recording studios will take place.<\/p>\n On the other hand, sooner rather than later a lifeline arrived in the form of salary coverage. Under current legislation, Resolution 18 of 2020 emerged from the Ministry of Culture, which provides labor protection measures for this circumstance.<\/p>\n As in other areas, the subsidized artists received 100 % of the salary in the first month of interruption (April, to be collected in May), and from the second month they are paid 60 %. "We sought to standardize the correspondence between the different categories and levels of the artistic sector that is subsidized today, with those that have a commercial regime," declared the First Deputy Minister of Culture, Mar\u00eda Elena Salgado. Likewise, the payment of taxes was postponed for those who operate at the disposal of supply and demand.<\/p>\n During phase one, salary protection will remain in force for those who are not hired during this period. Such guarantee will be eliminated at the rate that the demand and commercialization of artistic services increases, in the following phases.<\/p>\n \u201cAll help is appreciated, but it is not enough. In these times, everything is expensive and difficult to obtain,\u201d says percussionist Mary Paz Fern\u00e1ndez. Like the rest of the citizens, musicians also face shortages and the crippling difficulties of daily existence.<\/p>\n Between them and them the uneven impact is manifested in a similar way; the good or not so good conditions to face this crisis. "In the end, we are part of society," says L\u00e1zaro Pe\u00f1a. The greater the economic acquisition a person has, the better fed they will be, the easier isolation will be, the less they will have to leave the house, the better recovery they will have\u2026 Likewise, the more people who form part of a gang, the more danger there will be; but I think it has more to do with the above.\u201d<\/p>\n Those who own a home studio, or were blessed by popularity, are probably a stretch ahead. "There may be certain genres at a disadvantage, perhaps rap itself, which is not consumed by everyone, or trova," says Rub\u00e9n Mar\u00edn, director of the Cuban Rap Agency. However, reggaeton and other genres could have more advantages in this regard; although everything is in how you sell the product you have\u201d.<\/p>\n https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/magazine-am-pm\/dayme-arocena-covid-19\/s-HsdiBNsRqhq<\/p>\n The almost direct route to \u2014try\u2014 to make the music not stop has been the concerts on-line<\/em>, a halfway alternative, taking into account the high prices of Internet and other restrictions on connectivity in the country, and the scarce possibilities of even minimally monetizing the result of those efforts from Cuba.<\/p>\n Reyna Hern\u00e1ndez and Yadira Pintado (La Reyna and La Real) describe their experience: \u201cWe had the opportunity to hold our concert thanks to the Cuban Institute of Music, which was in charge of the broadcast. The advantage was that it was broadcast on television and radio, and thus it was able to reach more people, since it did not have a greater national reach on the Internet due to the limitations that we already know.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other hand, if sustained lack is of any use, it is that you learn to look for other ways; survival mode becomes an attitude towards life. \u201cIn our case, we have always worked with a rope around our necks, it is nothing new that we cannot do something like artists do in the rest of the world \u2014confesses Dj Jig\u00fce\u2014. Which doesn't mean we're not going to try."<\/p>\n For artists, a priority lies in promoting their presence on virtual networks and platforms, as an immediate way to maintain the link with the public. "In some way, we have been able to remain active, maintain interest in what we artists do, and not miss out on the world scene," says Harold.<\/p>\n However, from the audience side it seems difficult to be optimistic. Many comments argue that, with the current cost of the Internet, expecting the Cuban population to watch concerts on-line<\/em> It's almost a joke in bad taste. If consuming videos of a few minutes is expensive, a complete musical presentation represents a luxury.<\/p>\n The pandemic brings old contradictions to the fore; it comes to remember what should have been done and was not done. Improve connectivity options, for example. Even more so when in the first phase it is intended to replace live presentations with actions in the web space.<\/p>\n There is an idea that is reiterated in the conversations: if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have been able to... The pause forced by isolation leaves a productive balance of creativity, of resuming projects that had been left pending due to lack of time. "It has helped me to rediscover myself and make new creations," says Mary Paz.<\/p>\n \u201cAs there are no other types of commitments, I have been able to work in the recording studio on new productions, which in normal times I couldn't do,\u201d says Dj Jig\u00fce. \u201cWe are even launching an electronic music sub-label, Gu\u00e1mpara Groove. They are examples of how many things have changed during confinement, in terms of strategies, thoughts\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/magazine-am-pm\/kelvis-ochoa-covid-19\/s-hJa0EtxUA8X<\/p>\n In the initial period of recovery, only small-format groups are allowed to appear in closed places of gastronomy, tourism and the private sector. It will not be until the third phase that cultural centers and music houses will reopen, always with the corresponding sanitary measures, and only covering between 30 % and 50 % of the capacity.<\/p>\n For a while at least, we will continue longing for the happiness in vein that good concerts give. But the ideal is to do something in the meantime. Until now, the absence of other possible initiatives is noted, such as optimizing the operation of companies and agencies, the ways of negotiating and charging; in addition to offering talks, psychological support, practical advice to continue active...<\/p>\n Evolving seems the key to be able to continue. \u201cNew ideas will come: we have always survived everything, we have known how to adapt to the times. This one is not going to be any different\u201d, predicts Kelvis.<\/p>\n "I think it's time to invest the time we have left over in something productive," says sound engineer Fabric Aguilar. For him, this means taking advantage of the free tutorials offered by international sound companies. \u201cThat helps me a lot because, although the economic shock is very strong, emotionally it has been just as hard. Feeling the nerves when they turn off the lights because in seconds the concert starts... that's what I miss the most. Nothing can compare to that feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n Daym\u00e9 insists on seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty; because in confinement he comes up with more ideas than ever and has returned to playing the piano to accompany himself in the songs, in addition to improving the management of his networks. "Other ways of creating and producing have appeared, which hopefully serve to make us grow and improve ourselves as artists."<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No one. No one has come out unscathed since the COVID-19 outbreak, that planetary tsunami, began to decimate it all in January. The situation is uncertain everywhere, and the music industry stands out among the worst unemployed.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":5874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1765],"tags":[6851,6570,6571,22,1033],"coauthors":[346],"class_list":["post-5867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reportajes","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-cuarentena","tag-industria-musical","tag-musica-cubana"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/COVID_VS_MUSIC-Mayo.jpg?fit=1241%2C698&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5867"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}* This text is the result of an alliance between Magazine AM: PM and the Information Service of elTOQUE and Periodismo de Barrio.<\/h5>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"