Missing the Point of a Musical Performance

In the early 1800s, Ludwig van Beethoven began composing a symphony he intended to dedicate to Napoleon Bonaparte, hero of the French Revolution. But when he learned that Napoleon had crowned himself emperor, Beethoven furiously scratched out the working title, "Sinfonia Bonaparte," and replaced it with "Sinfonia Eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo" -- Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man. In the composer's eyes, Napoleon was dead.

Beethoven's Third Symphony did not, of course, depose Napoleon. But the piece is credited with revolutionizing symphonic music and ushering in the era of musical Romanticism. Over the last two centuries, it has moved and inspired millions of people with its beauty, originality and profundity.

It also illustrates how art can transcend politics -- something worth remembering in light of the current controversy surrounding Colombian pop star Juan Esteban Aristizabal, aka Juanes.

The 17-time Latin Grammy winner has never shied away from social issues: His songs have helped increase global awareness of Colombia's internal conflict, particularly the plague of landmines. Last year, he performed along the Venezuelan-Colombian border in hopes of fostering greater understanding and solidarity between two peoples whose current leaders do not get along.

But ever since he announced his plan to headline a mass peace concert in Havana on Sept. 20, Juanes has been widely criticized and has even received a death threat. Hard-line Cuban exiles are enraged that Juanes would consider performing in Cuba -- especially in La Plaza de la Revolucion, where the Communist Party holds its rallies.

The concert, critics say, only serves to legitimize the 50-year-old Communist regime, and its "peace" theme is a cop-out. What Cuba really needs is a "concert for democracy, for individual civil liberties, for the liberation of political prisoners, for free elections and for the expulsion of the dictators," according to Cuban writer Zoe Valdes.

The controversy has taken hold in the Spanish language media. Juanes' CDs have been burned in the streets of Miami. And the Cuba Study Group has even commissioned a poll in Southern Florida to gauge how Cuban Americans feel about the concert.

Many prominent artists, politicians and activists have issued statements in support of the concert. Most recently, a group of imprisoned dissidents on the island deemed it "a great opportunity" for reconciliation among all Cubans.

Aldo Civico, director of the Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution and adviser to Juanes, believes the singer wants to send precisely that kind of message -- "that besides our political differences, we are all one people."

For all the import that supporters and critics alike have projected onto this event, for how much they relate it to their highest aspirations or worst fears, the fact is: It is a concert. Of real political interest are the changes in Washington that have made it possible.

As a Colombian, Juanes is free to travel to Cuba. But other performers and production staff involved in the concert are U.S. citizens and require special permission from the U.S. government -- which would have been nearly impossible to obtain during the Bush administration.

The Obama administration, however, has made it clear that it favors such people-to-people connections. As of last month, the Treasury Department had reportedly approved as many licenses for public performances in Cuba this year as in all of 2008, and more Cubans have been allowed into the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supports the concert, and according to Civico, she even joked during a dinner with Juanes that she wished she could call him every time there was a border dispute to resolve.

Louis Head, who has worked for decades to promote Cuban culture in the United States, believes Juanes' concert is just the beginning. In an interview from Albuquerque, Head, who is with the nonprofit organization US-Cuba Cultural Exchange, said they "are really hopeful (about) the way the Obama administration is moving."

While the concert might bear a political message, Juanes is no policymaker, and to expect more from him would be to miss the point. His contribution here, just as it was with the Colombia-Venezuela concert, will be to help people feel good.

This is exactly what Zarin Mehta, president of the New York Philharmonic, aspires to do when the premier U.S. symphonic orchestra goes to Cuba in late October. "We just want to come and play music and let others worry about the politics," he said. "That's their problem."