Coldplay in Cuban style: Pablo Milanés sold out two thousand tickets and generated controversy

Tickets for the single concert offered by the Cuban singer-songwriter Paolo Milanes in the National Theater from Havana onwards June 21st they were sold out yesterday, Wednesday, shortly after the start of the sale, which generated a controversy between the public and the administration of the cultural facility.

Faced with a request for explanations from a group of people unable to purchase tickets, the director of the National Theater, Nereida Lopezexplained that “one amount was offered for sale to the public and the other amount was given to organizations,” according to a video released by independent media.

He specified that the Aula Avellaneda of the National Theater, where the concert is scheduled, has 2,056 seatsbut he did not specify how many were put up for sale and how many went to the authorities.

Indeed, one of the people who saw his desire to see Pablo Milanés frustrated – after more than two years of absence on the island – was indignant: “Can’t you talk to the organizations to sell a few more tickets? it’s people who’ve been here since dawn … “, he proposed.

Never before

This was assured by López, the official in charge “never” there had been “such a case” and he said that in other presentations the sale of tickets had only reached the public and the first balcony of the theater.

In this case, he acknowledged that they expected more demand. “We knew this Pablo concert would lead to this situation because it’s a unique concert,” she said.

The directive also referred to the dissatisfied that the National Theater is currently the only one available for this type of show because others have problems. “We are the only ones working with the programming of the capital,” she stressed.

an unexpected sight

On Monday, Pablo Milanés surprised his fans with the announcement on his social media profiles of this show as part of his tour days of lightwith whom he currently travels to various cities in Spain, a country in which he has lived for several years, and which has also brought him to the United States.

The latest performances on the island of the author of emblematic songs such as Yolanda, Living and How Quiet They date back to 2018, before the pandemic, when he held a huge concert, which sold out exact 5,000 positions of the theater Carlo Marxa recital dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana.

Then, at the end of 2019, Pablo returned to Cuba to accompany his daughter Haydeé during a memorable recital at the National Museum of Fine Arts.

a legendary artist

At 79 years oldand after more than six decades of long artistic career, Milanés accumulates a music library made up of dozens of albums with themes dealing with love and also with the social context in which this committed artist in his time knew how to live.

His extensive repertoire -which includes more than 400 songs of his authorship and fifty albums – includes collaborations with other artists and live recordings, as well as a series of albums dedicated to genres of traditional Cuban music.

Source EFE Agency