The Cuban cultural authorities declared the Nueva Trova musical movement, started 50 years ago by Silvio Rodríguez and the recently deceased Pablo Milanés, cultural patrimony of the nation, the official newspaper Granma reported this Saturday.
The formal declaration act was held on Friday night in the central park of the city of Manzanillo, where on December 1, 1972, this musical movement was formed as the culmination of the Second Meeting of Young Troubadours.
The Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando León, said that the Commission for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage validated the request “in order to contribute to the sustainability, viability and visibility of this important cultural expression.”
The prelude to that movement, which guitar in hand included poetry and politics in its songs, was the recital held by Rodríguez, Milanés and Noel Nicola (1946-2005), on February 18, 1968 at Casa de las Américas.
Its director, Haydée Santamaría, and the then president of the Film Institute (Icaic), Alfredo Guevara, both now deceased, sponsored the movement, which also had its detractors from the beginning.
More than half a century later, Rodríguez, 76, is almost the only survivor among the main founders. Milanés died in Madrid on November 22; Vicente Feliú, in 2021 and Sara González, in 2012 at the age of 61.