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Few remember today that in the sixties Frank Sinatra declared that he did not think "that shitty music called rock and roll" would last five years. It was, to his mind, a brutal form of expression, nauseating...and other epithets of the like. Two decades later, it would consolidate itself as "the soundtrack of the century," shaping forever the cultural map of the world.
With its geographical variations, rock soon caught on in Latin America. It became the epitome of popular youth culture, especially in large urban enclaves. Towards the end of the 20th century, the first major festivals appeared: Cosquín Rock (Argentina), Vive Latino (Mexico), and Rock al Parque (Colombia).
Since 2014, Cuba has its version of these meetings: the Patria Grande festival. Its purpose is not only to bring the main exponents of Latin American rock-fusion to the island, but also to insert Cuban groups in the regional circuit.
In its short life, the Patria Grande has inspired similar initiatives in contexts such as the Mupa festival in Panama. There, the young band Stoner, one of the groups with the greatest international projection, was invited to participate. They presented their progressive metal rich in melodic arrangements and studied guitar solos, supported by sophisticated electronic bases, providing a convincing example of how they can articulate tradition and rock modernity.
According to the possibilities and particularities of the country, Patria Grande Cuba seeks to position itself within these important rotating circuits. Among the exchange projects for this 2018 are, in the middle term, the presentation of exponents of Cuban rock in the aforementioned Rock al Parque and Cosquín Rock, and the participation of their respective organizers in the Patria Grande.