Cuba Celebrates 70th Anniversary of 'Guantanamera'

Los Angeles Times September 3, 1998

Cuba Celebrates 70th Anniversary of 'Guantanamera'

                           HAVANA--Cuba will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its
                           unofficial national anthem, "La Guantanamera", a popular
                           ballad which became a solidarity hymn worldwide for
                      supporters of Fidel Castro's revolution.
                      The Communist-run Caribbean island's state-run media are planning
                      to pay homage to the song, about a mythic peasant woman from the
                      western province of Guantanamo, in special programs and articles.
                      "For me and for many people in this country, La Guantanamera
                      simply represents 'Cuban-ness'," said Rafael Leyva, a 66-year-old
                      pensioner, whistling the tune in a Havana street as he reminisced
                      about hearing the song in his youth.
                      This weekend also marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of man
                      who wrote the song, Joseito Fernandez.
                      Fernandez wrote La Guantanamera in 1928 after developing his
                      musical talent as a boy by composing and singing jingles to help him
                      sell newspapers on the streets of Havana.
                      The most famous words in the song, "Guajira Guantanamera", refer
                      to the legendary beauty of peasant-women from Guantanamo --
                      although Fernandez never went there -- but in its early days the
                      instantly popular ballad's lyrics were adapted to wherever it was
                      sung.
                      A 1963 performance of the song in New York helped place it on the
                      world stage, and its reference to struggle of "the poor of the earth"
                      ensured its association with the left-wing global solidarity movement
                      with Cuba.
                      The song was even heard at anti-Vietnam War protests in the United
                      States, and its catchy tune was also adopted by English soccer fans
                      for their terrace chants.