"The challenge is to keep going", says singer-songwriter Israel Rojas

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 4 (ACN) "The challenge is to keep going, with the best possible songs, working hard as worshipers of love and good faith among human beings," said singer-songwriter Israel Rojas after duo Buena Fe's tour of Spain.

The artist remarked that Buena Fe will continue to criticize things as deserved for the sake of a better country, but never by praising defeat, nor with anger or “pitiful wailings” which are known to fix or create nothing but prove to be profitable.

“I have never believed in crowd-gathering contests because it’s a very unfair and changing meter, but even in that swampy field we can still compete. (…) Today they have more followers in Spain than ever before, and our music and especially our new album is popular in Cuba and even more so in Latin America.”

Rojas stressed that the recent days were the hardest ever because of "an absurd campaign launched by self-aware despicable individuals and echoed by people and platforms that lie with total conviction and malice”.

“We were repeatedly advised to return to Cuba and get out of the eye of the media storm, but we had a duty to those who bought tickets to listen to our music and those who every day stand up to the haters and offshoots of fascism in Europe and offered to be with us,” he pointed out. “We followed our conscience, as always. And there are wounds, of course. (…) Noble and good people offended Buena Fe because they are misinformed and pay heed to junk information; I refuse to believe they did it because they like to do harm. Many boots and fake profiles join the chorus to harmonize hate. And we also lost money, of course."

Rojas sent his love to those who raised their voices in solidarity, those who took blows aimed at him, those who traveled miles to listen to a song, to those who offered shelter and protection. Likewise, he said to feel profound contempt for those who sow hatred.

The singer remarked that Buena Fe was welcomed back in Cuba with the protocols lavished on athletes who achieve great victories, were offered to give a big concert in Havana, and other honors. “But we said no,” he pointed out, “as we just want to be embraced by our mothers, spouses, children and families, who have suffered so much, and we don’t want to upset the normal schedule of concerts, nor capitalize on what happened for personal gain. No need for that. We have done nothing extraordinary. We have just been ourselves.”