338 Chapter 13
of references to Afro-Cuban religion in all types of art and popular
music.
Acknowledging the role of visual art that incorporates aspects of
Afro-Cuban culture, Lázara Menéndez suggests that artistic produc-
tion made room for Afro-Cuban religious practices and culture in the
public sphere:
The issue of myth and the artistic sphere was a pretext that paved the
way for reflection on different aspects of Cuban culture and made it
possible to examine issues of being Cuban in their more immediate
context...Artistic creation, which since the eighties had staged a frontal
attack on such issues as poverty and exclusion, began to subvert institu-
tional-legal boundaries...There was increasing space for the religious
beliefs of African origin in Cuba heretofore relegated to the sphere of
folklore and in exceptional cases the fine arts... (Menéndez, 2005: 277)This example illustrates one way in which submerged and
repressed Afro-Cuban religious beliefs were aestheticized, taken up as
part of the artistic movements of the 1980s and via this path, entered
the public sphere. This is not to suggest that Afro-Cuban religious
beliefs and their expressions required legitimization through the fine
arts, but that through the window of art, elements of Afro-Cuban reli-
gions were brought before a public that may not have been inclined to
consider them or accept their cultural value.
Cuban popular music has also been vital in the efforts to create
new spaces for civic expression and an expanded public sphere. Timba
and rap, growing since the 1980s and considered part of a black aes-
thetic, grew rapidly in popularity during the 1990s under the condi-
tions of the Special Period. In the social and economic upheaval of the
period, which disproportionately affected non-white Cubans, timba
and rap lyrics spoke openly of harsh new realities, along with their
attendant racial dynamics and discrimination. Importantly, they also
spoke from a position of black identity: “Under a political regime that
rejected displays of identity based on race, religion and the like, timba
boldly paid tribute to Afro-Cuban heritage, both religious and secu-
lar.” (Hernández-Reguant, 2004: 33)