Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, icon of the revolution, dwells on island’s troubles in new album

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and CRISTIANA MESQUITA
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — He was the poetic voice of the Cuban Revolution, an inspiration for millions of Latin Americans living under dictatorships throughout the 1960s and 1970s who dreamt of the ideal Cuba that he — and his guitar — helped evoke. Troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, one of Cuba’s most famous musicians, has released a new album, his first in three years. But a lot has changed in his native country since the time he wrote “I live in a free country, which can only be free.” In a rare interview with The Associated Press in his recording studio in Havana, Rodríguez said: “I feel uncomfortable singing that song now.”