'Hopefully it passes' is no longer on any digital platform of the Cuban group Orishas

March 12, 2020

The Cuban hip hop group Orishas has removed the song "Ojalá Pase", recorded a few weeks ago with Spanish singer Beatriz Luengo, from all of its digital platforms in what could be a consequence of the lawsuit threatened by singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, alleging plagiarism.

"Ok! They managed to take down the song Ojalá Pase from all platforms, but they will never manage to take it down from the hearts of all my Cubans", wrote Orishas' lead vocalist Yotuel Romero on Instagram.

In another post, Romero quoted José Martí by saying that "you have to light the oven so that everyone can bake bread".

The musical piece contains a critique of the Cuban regime, but does so based on the lyrics of Rodríguez's "Ojalá", who upon learning of this clarified that he did not give his consent for it and characterized the act as a "parasitic act".

"For several days now, various friends have been asking me about a song by the Orishas group that uses a fairly extensive fragment of my song "Ojalá". Everyone wants to know the same thing: whether I authorized the use of my song within another song. I did not authorize it. They did not ask for authorization", wrote the Cuban troubadour.

"What do I think of this blatant violation of my rights as author of "Ojalá", something notorious for 50 years? It seems to me a regrettable act of parasitism", he added.

The newspaper Granma called the Orishas musical group "musical terrorists" and "usurpers". "What happened in recent days is not art, it is not music. It is musical terrorism, fruit of a very well-articulated and pestilent machinery that threatens the Cuban Revolution", said the newspaper in an article.

Regarding the legal matter, Cuban lawyer Darsi Fernández indicated that "under Cuban law and many Latin tradition legislations, unless Silvio or his music publisher had expressly authorized this use, its use by another person would be unlawful".