The Cuban-American Sound Machine: Nostalgia and Identity in the Music of Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan and Pitbull

Sierra, Horacio

doi:10.13169/intejcubastud.10.2.0238

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International Journal of Cuban Studies

Volume 10, Issue 2

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Article: found

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The Cuban-American Sound Machine: Nostalgia and Identity in the Music of Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan and Pitbull

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research-article

Author(s): Horacio Sierra

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2018

Journal: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Cuban-American identity, popular music, immigration, nostalgia, race, gender

Abstract

This article examines how Celia Cruz (1925–2003), Gloria Estefan (born 1957) and Pitbull (born 1981), each of whom represents different generations, immigration statuses, gender performances and racial identities, have employed their musical hits and public personae to simultaneously shorten and widen the 90-mile distance between the US and Cuba. Their musical and political commentary parallels the evolving attitudes and identities of the Cuban-American community towards Cuba and its politics. Each successive artist is a little more ambiguous about his or her political leanings in the American political sphere, but all of them continue to oppose Cuba's Communist regime while trading in the musical currency of nostalgia for the Cuba of yesteryear. In the vein of Gustavo Pérez Firmat's watershed analysis of Cuban-Americans' hyphenated identity, these artists demonstrate how Cuban-American identity exists in a liminal cultural space that lives in the present and plans for the future with one foot planted firmly in the fantasy of an Edenic past.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Horacio Sierra

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005551

Journal ID (jcode): intejcubastud

Title: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 1756-3461

ISSN: 1756-347X

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2018

Volume: 10

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/intejcubastud.10.issue-2 )

Pages: 238-265

Affiliations

Bowie State University, USA

Article

Publisher ID: intejcubastud.10.2.0238

DOI: 10.13169/intejcubastud.10.2.0238

SO-VID: 1e30c6de-3f60-4292-adb0-92288a7f7686

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Literary studies,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Cultural studies,Economics

Keywords: immigration,Cuban-American identity,gender,race,nostalgia,popular music

References

Abreu, Christina D. (2007) ‘Celebrity, “Crossover”, and Cubanidad: Celia Cruz as “La Reina de Salsa”, 1972–2003’, Latin American Music Review 28(1): 94–124.
Akhtar, Salman (April 1999) ‘The Immigrant, the Exile, and the Experience of Nostalgia’, Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 1(2): 123–30.
Aparicio, Frances R. (2012) ‘The Blackness of Sugar: Celia Cruz and the Performance of (Trans)nationalism’, in Ifeona Fulani (ed.) Archipelagos of Sound: Transnational Caribbeanities, Women and Music. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 19–33.
Barmé, Geremie (1999) In The Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
Benítez-Rojo, Antonio (2001) ‘The Role of Music in the Emergence of Afro-Cuban Culture’, in Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies, and Ali A. Mazrui (eds) The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 197–203.
Benson, Devyn (2016) Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Bryant, Lei Ouyang (Fall 2005) ‘Music, Memory, and Nostalgia: Collective Memories of Cultural Revolution Songs in Contemporary China’, China Review 5(2): 151–75.
Carrera, Magali (2003) Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race, Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Cerullo, Megan (26 September, 2017) ‘Pitbull Sends Private Plane to Puerto Rico to Bring Cancer Patients to U.S. Mainland for Chemo’, The New York Daily News.
Cruz, Celia (1994) ‘Cuando Cuba se acabe de liberar’, Irrepitible, RMM Records.
Cruz, Celia (2000) ‘Por si acaso no regreso’, Siempre Viviré, Sony Records.
Cruz, Celia (1969) ‘Yo soy la voz’, Quimbo Quimbumbia, Tico Records.
Current, Cheris Brewer (2010) Questioning the Cuban Exile Model: Race, Gender, and Resettlement 1959–1979. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.
Dominguez, Esteban Morales (2008) Desagios de la problemática racial en Cuba. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Duany, Jorge (25 October, 2014) ‘2014 FIU Cuba Poll’, FIU Cuba Research Institute.
Duany, Jorge (16 September, 2016) ‘2016 FIU Cuba Poll’, FIU Cuba Research Institute.
Dunn, Marvin (1997) Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Estefan, Gloria (26 November, 2016) ‘Although the Death of a Human Being … ’, Facebook.
Estefan, Gloria (1993) ‘Mi Tierra’, Mi Tierra, Epic Records.
Estefan, Gloria (22 October, 2015) ‘People en Español interview. Gloria Estefan, sobre cantar en Cuba’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt_5sBw4DOo. Accessed 20 December 2016.
Estefan, Gloria (11 May, 2018) ‘Reflections on a Life Lived Fully With Gloria Estefan’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vGiIHL2bjY. Accessed 2 August 2018.
ExtraTV (7 December, 2016) ‘Pitbull Speaks on Fidel Castro's Death’, ExtraTV.
Flores, Griselda (22 March, 2016) ‘President Obama Name Checks Pitbull & Gloria Estefan During Speech in Cuba’, Billboard Magazine.
García, María Cristina (1996) Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959–1994. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hall, Anthony (1 March, 2013) ‘Castro's White Successor Highlights Racism in Cuba’, Caribbean News Now.
Hansen, Lena (November, 2015) ‘Los que marcan el ritmo’, People en Español, 84–85.
Hay, Michelle (2009) I've Been Black in Two Countries: Black Cuban View on Race in the U.S, El Paso, TX: LFB Publishing LLC.
Heller, Karen (29 November, 2017) ‘Gloria Estefan Left Cuba as a Young Child, But the Island Defines Her, and Her Music’, The Washington Post.
Jay-Z (2013) ‘Freestyle’, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Roc-A-Fella Records.
Liptak, Kevin (24 April, 2013) ‘Jay-Z's Cuba Trip “Hypocritical”, says Rubio’, CNN.
Moore, Robin D. (2006) Music & Revolution: Cultural Changes in Socialist Cuba. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Negrón-Muntaner, Frances (2007) ‘Celia's Shoes’, in Myra Mendibe (ed.) From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 94–116.
Nordheimer, Jon (2 December, 1987) ‘Black Cubans: Apart in Two Worlds’, The New York Times.
Ortiz, Fernando (1947) Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar. Trans. Harriet de Onís. Alfred Knopf Publishing.
Pardillo-Cid, Omer (14 February, 2016) Interview.
Parish, James Robert (2006) Gloria Estefan. Infobase Publishing, New York.
Pérez Firmat, Gustavo (2012) Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. 2nd ed. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Pitbull (@pitbull) (14 April, 2013a) ‘I’m Cuban American I Was Born Politically Incorrect Here Is My Open Letter Daleee’, 9:14 a.m., Tweet.
Pitbull (@pitbull) (2013b) ‘Open Letter (Freestyle)’, Soundcloud.
Poyo, Gerald E. (2007) Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960–1980. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Ramirez, Erika (11 April, 2013) ‘White House Responds to Jay-Zs “Open Letter” Obama Lyrics’, Billboard.
Roig-Franzia, Miguel and Scott Higham (12 December, 2015) ‘The Drug-Smuggling Case That Brought Anguish to Marco Rubio's Family’, The Washington Post.
Rozenblat, Sergio (12 January, 2016) Interview.
Schmalz, Jeffrey (31 August, 1989) ‘Cuban Émigré Wins Election to U.S. House’, The New York Times.
Sierra, Horacio (2017) ‘“On Your Feet!” at the Marquis Theatre’, Theatre Journal 69(2): 100–101.
Smolowe, Jill (4 August, 2003) ‘Adiós, Celia!’ People.
Starr, Larry and Christopher Waterman (2017) American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Steward, Sue (1999) Salsa: Musical Heartbeat of Latin America. London: Thames & Hudson.
Zurbano, Roberto (25 March, 2013) ‘Missing Out on Cuba's Revolution’, The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abreu, Christina D. (2007) ‘Celebrity, “Crossover”, and Cubanidad: Celia Cruz as “La Reina de Salsa”, 1972–2003’, Latin American Music Review 28(1): 94–124.

[2] Akhtar, Salman (April 1999) ‘The Immigrant, the Exile, and the Experience of Nostalgia’, Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 1(2): 123–30.

[3] Aparicio, Frances R. (2012) ‘The Blackness of Sugar: Celia Cruz and the Performance of (Trans)nationalism’, in Ifeona Fulani (ed.) Archipelagos of Sound: Transnational Caribbeanities, Women and Music. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 19–33.

[4] Barmé, Geremie (1999) In The Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.

[5] Benítez-Rojo, Antonio (2001) ‘The Role of Music in the Emergence of Afro-Cuban Culture’, in Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies, and Ali A. Mazrui (eds) The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 197–203.

[6] Benson, Devyn (2016) Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

[7] Bryant, Lei Ouyang (Fall 2005) ‘Music, Memory, and Nostalgia: Collective Memories of Cultural Revolution Songs in Contemporary China’, China Review 5(2): 151–75.

[8] Carrera, Magali (2003) Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race, Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings. Austin: University of Texas Press.

[9] Cerullo, Megan (26 September, 2017) ‘Pitbull Sends Private Plane to Puerto Rico to Bring Cancer Patients to U.S. Mainland for Chemo’, The New York Daily News.

[10] Cruz, Celia (1994) ‘Cuando Cuba se acabe de liberar’, Irrepitible, RMM Records.

[11] Cruz, Celia (2000) ‘Por si acaso no regreso’, Siempre Viviré, Sony Records.

[12] Cruz, Celia (1969) ‘Yo soy la voz’, Quimbo Quimbumbia, Tico Records.

[13] Current, Cheris Brewer (2010) Questioning the Cuban Exile Model: Race, Gender, and Resettlement 1959–1979. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.

[14] Dominguez, Esteban Morales (2008) Desagios de la problemática racial en Cuba. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

[15] Duany, Jorge (25 October, 2014) ‘2014 FIU Cuba Poll’, FIU Cuba Research Institute.

[16] Duany, Jorge (16 September, 2016) ‘2016 FIU Cuba Poll’, FIU Cuba Research Institute.

[17] Dunn, Marvin (1997) Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

[18] Estefan, Gloria (26 November, 2016) ‘Although the Death of a Human Being … ’, Facebook.

[19] Estefan, Gloria (1993) ‘Mi Tierra’, Mi Tierra, Epic Records.

[20] Estefan, Gloria (22 October, 2015) ‘People en Español interview. Gloria Estefan, sobre cantar en Cuba’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt_5sBw4DOo. Accessed 20 December 2016.

[21] Estefan, Gloria (11 May, 2018) ‘Reflections on a Life Lived Fully With Gloria Estefan’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vGiIHL2bjY. Accessed 2 August 2018.

[22] ExtraTV (7 December, 2016) ‘Pitbull Speaks on Fidel Castro's Death’, ExtraTV.

[23] Flores, Griselda (22 March, 2016) ‘President Obama Name Checks Pitbull & Gloria Estefan During Speech in Cuba’, Billboard Magazine.

[24] García, María Cristina (1996) Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959–1994. Berkeley: University of California Press.

[25] Hall, Anthony (1 March, 2013) ‘Castro's White Successor Highlights Racism in Cuba’, Caribbean News Now.

[26] Hansen, Lena (November, 2015) ‘Los que marcan el ritmo’, People en Español, 84–85.

[27] Hay, Michelle (2009) I've Been Black in Two Countries: Black Cuban View on Race in the U.S, El Paso, TX: LFB Publishing LLC.

[28] Heller, Karen (29 November, 2017) ‘Gloria Estefan Left Cuba as a Young Child, But the Island Defines Her, and Her Music’, The Washington Post.

[29] Jay-Z (2013) ‘Freestyle’, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Roc-A-Fella Records.

[30] Liptak, Kevin (24 April, 2013) ‘Jay-Z's Cuba Trip “Hypocritical”, says Rubio’, CNN.

[31] Moore, Robin D. (2006) Music & Revolution: Cultural Changes in Socialist Cuba. Berkeley: University of California Press.

[32] Negrón-Muntaner, Frances (2007) ‘Celia's Shoes’, in Myra Mendibe (ed.) From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 94–116.

[33] Nordheimer, Jon (2 December, 1987) ‘Black Cubans: Apart in Two Worlds’, The New York Times.

[34] Ortiz, Fernando (1947) Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar. Trans. Harriet de Onís. Alfred Knopf Publishing.

[35] Pardillo-Cid, Omer (14 February, 2016) Interview.

[36] Parish, James Robert (2006) Gloria Estefan. Infobase Publishing, New York.

[37] Pérez Firmat, Gustavo (2012) Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. 2nd ed. Austin: University of Texas Press.

[38] Pitbull (@pitbull) (14 April, 2013a) ‘I’m Cuban American I Was Born Politically Incorrect Here Is My Open Letter Daleee’, 9:14 a.m., Tweet.

[39] Pitbull (@pitbull) (2013b) ‘Open Letter (Freestyle)’, Soundcloud.

[40] Poyo, Gerald E. (2007) Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960–1980. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

[41] Ramirez, Erika (11 April, 2013) ‘White House Responds to Jay-Zs “Open Letter” Obama Lyrics’, Billboard.

[42] Roig-Franzia, Miguel and Scott Higham (12 December, 2015) ‘The Drug-Smuggling Case That Brought Anguish to Marco Rubio's Family’, The Washington Post.

[43] Rozenblat, Sergio (12 January, 2016) Interview.

[44] Schmalz, Jeffrey (31 August, 1989) ‘Cuban Émigré Wins Election to U.S. House’, The New York Times.

[45] Sierra, Horacio (2017) ‘“On Your Feet!” at the Marquis Theatre’, Theatre Journal 69(2): 100–101.

[46] Smolowe, Jill (4 August, 2003) ‘Adiós, Celia!’ People.

[47] Starr, Larry and Christopher Waterman (2017) American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

[48] Steward, Sue (1999) Salsa: Musical Heartbeat of Latin America. London: Thames & Hudson.

[49] Zurbano, Roberto (25 March, 2013) ‘Missing Out on Cuba's Revolution’, The International Herald Tribune.