Very few they know him for Eugenio, but for “Yin” or simply Pedraza Ginori. a man of Cuban television who led for three decades, musicians, actors, comedians and dancers are all about.
Recently published “Cuban Memories. Eugenito want TV “and” Cuban Memories. Quietecito not me, “both sale at Amazon .
Pedraza Ginori worked thirty years in Cuban television. From 1965 to 1995 he decided to stay on a business trip he made to Galicia, Spain.
On the small screen Cuba led Theater ICRT , Young Young (1983-1986), live , with Germán Pinelli and Veronica Lynn, among others.
Based in the Iberian peninsula, Pedraza set out to write a digital logbook from 2013, where he gave free rein to memory without space restrictions imposed by armed newsrooms blog Pedraza Ginori .
A few hours before traveling to Miami gave this interview to Martí News . Ginori spoke of censorship in Cuba, from its beginnings in television that gave ideological face the Cuban and artists who enjoyed great popularity as Mirtha Medina, Alfredo Rodriguez or teachers who formed the Septeto Nacional Ignacio Pineiro revolution.
Accounts your story, -your Tv cubana- as a fade out , which went from being a breakthrough in Latin America to become a mechanism of propaganda and indoctrination. How can you work in such an environment?
Cuban television was born in 1950 and very quickly became the first Spanish-speaking. The courage of the Cuban businessmen who bet seriously by the new audiovisual media, the talent of our technicians, artists and performers who turned on it and the massive support of the population were fundamental factors for the incredible development that managed the Cuban TV 50s the quantity and quality of its programming placed second in the world, behind the powerful American industry.
While the large European countries emitted only a few hours a day or simply did not have TV (in Spain was opened in October 1956), Cuba marked the passage in Latin America with three major networks covering all regions of the island and generated every day, from morning to night, a high number of live programs: CMQ TV Channel 6, National Television Channel 4 and Channel 2 Telemundo . The offer is completed with stations limited in scope, basically dedicated to transmit simple programs, series and movies, as the habanera CMBF TV (Channel 7), Channel 10, Channel 11 and even a station, Channel 12 , who made Cuba the second country in the world after the United States, have color television with daily schedule.
after the triumph of the revolution, the TV was nationalized and placed at the service of the new regime. But make no mistake, it was always a propaganda mechanism. Before 1959 sold detergents, cigarettes and beer. Then ideology. I think the big mistake of the Socialists administrators of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) was its narrowness, the considered only as a means of disseminating political messages. This made them lose the historic opportunity presented to them to exploit the possibilities of the medium and develop it as a powerful instrument of cultural diffusion and social improvement.
Where P. Ginori begins and where it ends in Cuban TV?
After several years working in Radio Progreso and the Musical Theater of Havana, in 1965 I joined a training course organized by the ICRT directors. A few months later, I started a long time as director, screenwriter and producer who lasted until 1992.
You were always closely linked to music, your memories start with a tasty anecdote with the great Carlos Embale.
The music has played a key role in my personal and professional life. As an author I have composed nearly a hundred works, mostly as a lyricist. Most of my programs were music and that gave me the opportunity to work with great performers and creators, many of whom became my friends. So it makes sense that music occupies a prominent place in my written reports instead.
The book is crossed by the diabolical mechanism is the Ideological Department of the PCC, which resulted in layoffs, jail, ostracism, censorship and even acts of repudiation. What is your lesson to see how such a phenomenon work?
knew in detail how internally worked the upper structure directing the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) . But many times I suffered the consequences of their political line, based mainly on establish mechanisms of censorship and repression. It was very difficult to work within narrow but could be coordinated. Every system, closed enough, it generates its own gaps and sneaks them one if you have ability to do so.
For many years doing television saw some artists flourish and decline others. Who you remember closest to you and how was that relationship?
The parameter that made me closer to an artist was his professionalism, the seriousness with which developed his career. Therefore, I felt very comfortable working with Mirtha Medina, Alfredo Rodríguez, Amaury Pérez Vidal, Miguel Angel Masjuán, Georgia Galvez, National Septet, Juan Formell and Van Van, Osvaldo Rodriguez and others who regret not remember at this time.
One of your stories describe the actress Ana Lasalle as “Doña scissors” personally responsible for censorship. From what I see you are of many that you witness his reputation as “militia”.
A Ana devoted a whole chapter of my memoirs. It was a many-faceted character, respected as an actress, which unfortunately became a full-time militant fundamentalist dedicated to pursue what she considered damaging to the revolution.
You spend your end to the controversial actress and Vidal Consuelito pages. What is your picture of such a controversial figure?
With Consuelo I worked many times, she was present at many of my best programs and events. And that led us to become great friends. Personally, I keep very good memories of her and her figure has my respect. From a professional standpoint, I think it was the largest Cuban presenter of all time.
Chapter of “blacklists” is an example of official censorship in Cuba. Is it true that you never saw a redacted list where prohibited Meme Solis, Olga Guillot and Celia Cruz? Who then communicated the verbal ban on televising not an artist, how long durabas on the ‘blacklist’ and who decided when out of it? What listed remember?
If there was a blacklist written on paper, I did not see. The leaders were responsible for verbally communicate the names of directors who could not be programmed. In the case of the Cuban performers who chose to leave the country, censorship was total and indefinite. The period of prohibition of a resident artist in the country could be longer or shorter, but never explained to us the reasons taken into consideration for imposing or end a penalty.
You call them “listed” we told them “pressed”. Remember, including rock groups that moved outside the official circuit, Bobby Jimenez, Bobby Leonard, Celeste Mendoza, Frank Dominguez, Jose Valladares, Rolo Martinez, Marusha …
How do you get to Spain and why are you leaving?
in 1992, the Special Period, I was presented with an opportunity to work as a teacher in an institution image and sound of Galicia and I took it. The atmosphere in Cuba was even more stifling than had been and decided to go out and breathe fresh air. Since then, I live outside the island.
We appreciate this interview the Cuban writer Rafael Saumell. Follow Luis Felipe Rojas @alambradas
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