top of page
The Cuban-American Sound Machine: Nostalgia and Identity in the Music of Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan and Pitbull
Biblioteca digital: arte y cultura

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

Resumen: 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.

Año: 2018

Como citar: Sierra, H. (2018). 

UNIVERSIDAD SERGIO ARBOLEDA

SEMILLERO DE ESTUDIOS SOBRE CUBA

CALLE 74 # 14-14

INFORMACIÓN: 57 1 3258181

LÍNEA GRATUITA: 01 8000 110414

  • Blanca Facebook Icono
  • Twitter Icono blanco
  • Blanco Icono de Instagram
  • Blanco Icono de YouTube
bottom of page