• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 06 / 21 / 2011

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Two-time Grammy winner Pablo Milanes has collaborated with many top Spanish-speaking singers and composers.

By Jordan Levin.MiamiHerald.com. One of Cuba’s most renowned musical artists will play Miami’s biggest venue in August.

Singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes, a pillar of Cuban music for almost 50 years, will perform at AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 27 as part of his first U.S. tour since 1979. Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Friday.

The venue, which has a capacity of 19,600 seats (although it can be configured for smaller audiences), home to the Miami Heat and host to numerous pop stars, is the largest that any Cuban act has played in South Florida.

“Pablo fills stadiums all over Latin America,” says Hugo Cancio, a longtime promoter of Cuban music, whose Fuego Entertainment is producing the tour. Milanes will also perform in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Oakland and Puerto Rico. “When you talk about Pablo you talk about Cuba. He’s the maximum representation of Cuban music and culture,.” Cancio says.

The revered Milanes is one of the architects of Cuban Nueva Trova, a musical genre that developed in Latin America in the 1960s and is known for its poetic, leftist and socially conscious lyrics. He has released 29 albums, won two Grammys and collaborated with many top Spanish-speaking singers and composers. With his generational and artistic compatriot Silvio Rodriguez (who toured the United States last year but did not come closer to Miami than Orlando), Milanes has long been closely associated with the Cuban Revolution.

Cuban artists have performed in Miami much more frequently since the Obama Administration loosened Bush-era restrictions on cultural exchange with the island, mostly with little controversy. The folkloric ensemble Los Munequitos de Matanzas performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in March. Singer-songwriter Carlos Varela played the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts last year (he returns to the downtown club Grand Central on Thursday and Saturday), and numerous other acts have played various clubs and private venues. On Saturday an event called MiaFest, which includes the Cuban act Gente D’Zona, will take place at the Klipsch Auditorium at Bayfront Amphitheater.

Although most performances have occurred without incident, Cuban exiles have staged protests at some larger shows. A small group called the American Missile Crisis Association has successfully lobbied Miami-Dade County and the cities of Miami, Hialeah and Sweetwater to pass a resolution denouncing Cuban cultural exchange. In April the Homestead-Miami Speedway, after pressure from exiles and local politicians, canceled a Cuban music festival being produced by Mia Resorts and Fuego. Both sides are disputing the matter in court.

Despite the potential for controversy, Cancio believes Miami is a natural destination for Milanes.

“It’s where millions of [his] fellow Cubans reside. ... From a business point of view it’s a natural market,” Cancio says. “It’s a mecca for Latin American artists.”

And also for Cuban artists. “Ask a Cuban in Cuba what they think of Miami, and they say Miami is where my cousin is, where my best friend is, where my ex-girlfriend lives,” Cancio says. “Miami is where I would like to be.”

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/20/2275177/cubas-pablo-milanes-to-per...