Pages

Friday, October 10, 2014

Cuba`s new rebels - emos, screamos, mikis and freaks

Cuba`s new rebels: emos, screamos, mikis and freaks
Last Updated: Friday, October 10, 2014 - 11:29

Havana: Every weekend, a new generation of rebels converges on downtown
Havana, their tattoos, piercings, and dyed hair a world apart from the
"new man" the island`s revolutionary leaders dreamed of.

They claim membership in a disparate band of urban tribes -- "emos,"
"screamos," "repas," "mikis," "punks" and "freaks" -- but come together
on G Street, one of the capital`s main avenues, to drink, smoke, flirt,
gossip and listen to the music that defines their clans.

Cuba`s communist government once considered them "ideological deviants,"
but has recently begun allowing these globalized rebels a small space of
freedom -- though still under the watchful eye of the police.

Gathering at midnight beneath statues of Latin American independence
fighter Simon Bolivar and leftist hero Salvador Allende, several hundred
mostly teenage revellers gather each weekend sporting creative tattoos,
multiple piercings and gauged ears.

Others wear leather or metal wristbands, or exotic post-punk hairstyles.

In their cross-cutting fashion philosophy, "black is the new khaki."

Under the raw light of streetlamps or in the shadows of the tree-lined
median, they gather around MP3 players or cell phones playing hard rock,
hip-hop, emo and reggaeton.

They bear little resemblance to Havana`s postcard image of crumbling
colonial buildings, classic American cars and salsa musicians decked out
in white.

They are also a far cry from the revolutionary ideal of the selfless
communist citizen that Che Guevara and Fidel Castro hoped to make the
model for Cuba and the world after toppling dictator Fulgencio Batista
in 1959 and seizing power.But it is a well-behaved rebellion, with no
fighting or loud music.

This is still Cuba, after all, even if Fidel has relinquished power to
his younger brother Raul and the island has started taking tentative
steps toward reform.

A handful of police, both plainclothes and uniformed, keep an eye on the
crowd.

Nevertheless, the regime`s attitude has changed dramatically since the
1960s, when it persecuted young people who listened to the Beatles or
Elvis -- music labelled "counterrevolutionary".

"There`s more tolerance now," said Ruben Gutierrez, a self-described
punk and G Street regular sporting six face piercings and several tattoos.

The government has grown slowly more tolerant of "freaks," or rock music
fans, since the 1980s.

In the early 2000s, police still chased fans of "enemy" (American) music
away from G Street when they tried to gather there after the authorities
closed their previous spot, a square near the Plaza de la Revolucion.

But in 2007, after carrying out a sociological study and deciding the
young music lovers` worldview was compatible with communist ideology,
the government began allowing them to stay on G Street.

"This has been closely observed by the police and certain groups that
carry out surveillance," said Omar Padilla, a 30-year-old rocker with
long hair.

"There was a time when we couldn`t be here."

But now, he said, "G is a kind of sanctuary for rockers. In reality it`s
a bohemian life here, not just for rockers but for people from any urban
tribe.... And yeah, you feel a little bit free."The styles they embrace
are the same ones that can be found on the streets of London, New York
or Berlin.

Each tribe has its own space on G Street, but there are no signs of
rivalry as they pass the night drinking rum and smoking cigarettes --
plus a little pot -- under the distant but constantly present gaze of
the police.

They include rockers, emos, punks, "repas" (hip-hop fans), "mikis" (pop
fans) and "screamos" (a mix of punk and emo, according to adherents).

Their conversations range from music to literature to technology to
fashion to love -- but politics is absent.

"They share the Cuban population`s disbelief and mistrust in political
institutions, which they don`t consider spaces for mobilization or
social transformation," said psychologist Daybel Panellas of the
University of Havana, who has studied the groups.

Pedro Luis Fernandez, a 17-year-old emo, described G Street as a place
"to meet people who think like you, who like the same music and look the
same."

Jorge Herrera, a 16-year-old "freak," had more concrete goals: "We came
to meet girls and get lucky if possible," he said.

"When you don`t have money to go to a club, you come to G," said Pedro
Tumbarell, a 21-year-old "screamo" by night and nursing student by day.

AFP

Source: Cuba`s new rebels: emos, screamos, mikis and freaks | Zee News -
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/cubas-new-rebels-emos-screamos-mikis-and-freaks_1482550.html

No comments: