Pedro Luis Ferrer Fills Bellas Artes Hall in Double Session

August 25, 2023

"Still moved by the sincere affection of the public that overflowed last night at the Bellas Artes theater in Havana. We are infinitely grateful for the tremendous drive of such comforting energy," declared Cuban singer-songwriter Pedro Luis Ferrer on his Facebook profile.

He was referring to the second concert he held at the Theater Hall of the National Museum of Bellas Artes alongside his daughter Lena Ferrer.

"I have a good instinctive antenna to immediately assess the audience before me," added the troubadour, and stated that he prepares his scripts "in such a way that I can quickly detect the characteristics of the audience".

"And I can assure you that the vibration last night was deep-rooted, of a strikingly authentic sincerity," he said. He highlighted that everyone, whether they had a ticket or not, was allowed to enter the concert, and that the hall was absolutely packed. "There were people even on the sides of the stage".

After the first presentation on Tuesday, Ferrer had written: "I am grateful for the overwhelming reception from the enthusiastic and receptive audience".

On his Facebook page, the museum described Wednesday's concert as "intimate and warm," and noted that before each song Ferrer recited verses compiled in Poemas sin libro, a publication he recently presented in Spain.

The musician had emphasized before the presentations that they were taking place in "a context where ordinary people suffer great hardships and vicissitudes; and where freedom of expression is a matter that is unfolding traumatically and dramatically". He added that he was motivated by the idea of "stimulating" in Cuban authorities "the path of economic and spiritual freedom that the people and nation need for prosperity".

"We need much love for art to prevail over shoddy work in Cuba," he said.

Initially, one concert had been announced for August 22. However, after complaints on social media that hardly any tickets had been sold to the public for that presentation, and that the majority had been distributed through invitations, the artist himself managed the scheduling of a second concert at the same venue.

The author of songs such as "Abuelo Paco," "100 por ciento cubano," or "Inseminación artificial," has had a critical stance toward Cuba's Government for many years.

In October 2022 he made public a "Declaration of Autonomy with respect to UNEAC," in which he explained his break with the state-run organization, after a letter was published in which a group of spokespersons and intellectuals endorsed the regime's crackdown on citizen protests that occurred weeks before.

Taken from: Pedro Luis Ferrer abarrota la sala de Bellas Artes en doble sesión | DIARIO DE CUBA