Birthright

- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided in part by, The Knight Foundation, and by the following: Up All Night Holdings, Bob Gershen.

For a complete list of funders, please visit www.jaymgershen.com/birthright.

(static hisses) (upbeat drumming music) (static hisses) (singers singing in Spanish) (static hisses) (singers singing in Spanish) (static hisses) (lively music in Spanish) (static hisses) (lively music in Spanish) (static hisses) (upbeat Spanish music) (Static hisses) C'mon, shake your body baby do the conga (static hisses) (upbeat music in Spanish) (static hisses) (upbeat music in Spanish) (static hisses) (upbeat music in Spanish) (static hisses) Ooh you know oh-oh oh-oh Giving me that look, I know you're ready to go (static hisses) - [Producer] Afrobeta take one, Mark.

(clapper clacks) Wow.

- Oh my God, tissues?

Sheesh.

(chuckles) Get ready to cry, Tony.

- Why?

(laughing) - [Crew] Just pat it down (indistinct).

- Is this from the waist up?

- [Crew] Yeah, Like shoulders.

- Okay.

- Tony's nose?

- No, no, no, no, no.

- No, she's saying it.

- No, she wasn't saying that.

- [Crew] Yes - Yes.

- Oh.

- [Producer] Tell me who Afrobeta is.

(upbeat music) - We're Afrobeta, we are the love child of music in Miami.

- We make fun songs on acoustic instruments, and then we turn 'em into electronic pieces.

- I mean, you really can't get more Miami, than what we are, and who we are as people.

(upbeat electronic music) Tony's like, kind of the guy, like everybody knows Tony in the Miami music scene as the afro guy, the guy that plays with every single band.

For the first three years of Afrobeta, he had girlfriends, I had boyfriends.

- Yeah.

- We just- - Yeah, nothing- - Nothing to do.

- No.

- I think what started happening is, once I became single, and he became single, and we were still spending that much time together, then I started kind of questioning.

I was like, "Why are all these chicks all up on his jock?"

- FOMO.

- "Fear of Missing Out."

- You always, you have this, she's the queen of FOMO.

One, two, three, four.

(sings in Spanish) - People always will ask me as soon as I open my mouth, they're like, "Where are you from?"

And then I'll say, "I'm from Miami."

They're like, "Where are you really from?"

"Where are you from, from?"

And I already understand that to mean, "You have an accent, and I don't think it's just being from Miami."

But I say, "Well, I speak Spanish, my parents are Cuban."

I mean, yeah, I've said I'm Cuban a million times.

I say I'm Cuban, and now I realize, well, how does that really make me Cuban?

I've never been to Cuba, and I meet people in Miami that are just getting from here from Cuba.

They're Cuban.

- They're really Cuban.

(mellow electronic music) We're, I say fake Cuban.

- What?

- Yeah.

- No.

- I'm fake Cuban because I've never been to the island.

- No we're not fake Cuban.

- But I speak the language, I eat the food, I know all the customs.

- It's your culture.

- It's my culture, right.

- You can speak the language and eat the food, and your parents are not Cuban.

- It's true, but- - You're Cuban because your parents raised you Cuban.

- My parents are Cuban, yes.

- But they raised you Cuban.

- But I've never even been there so how, I mean, how, it's kind of weird.

- It's a cultural thing.

- It is, it is.

- It's an ethnicity.

(movie reel rolling) - [Cristy] People have been trying to define what it means to be Cuban for the last 500 years.

The story I heard, was that Columbus claimed Cuba for Spain and control of the islands has been changing hands for financial and political gain ever since.

By the time my grandparents were born, Cuba was independent, sort of.

They had their own constitution, but had to ask the US how to spend their money, and who they could be friends with.

And by the time my parents were born, there was a US backed military coup to keep the current president Batista in power.

At the same time, the vibe in Havana was glamorous.

Tourists, movie stars, and mob owned casinos made it a playground for the rich and powerful.

But not everyone was invited to play, and the people were ready for a change.

So when a young lawyer and activist named Fidel Castro called for revolution in the streets, many thought he'd be a change for the better.

But it wasn't a happy ending.

Soon my mom and her family were standing in line for food rations, and my dad and uncle were sent on a flight to Miami to protect them from communist indoctrination.

- We were raised to not go there.

- [Cristy] Our parents came to the US as political exiles, which allowed them to pursue US residency, and later, citizenship.

They and thousands of other Cubans landed in Miami.

60 years, and many, many Cubans later, we run this city.

We're the politicians, the real estate developers, and the ladies making (speaking Spanish).

Cuban Americans make up more than half the population here.

Growing up, our teachers yelled at us in Spanish, but the books were English.

Even corporate America knows, if they wanna do business here, they gotta do it in Espanol.

Miami became the hub of the Cuban-American identity.

And while many of us have never been to the island, for a time, it almost felt like we didn't need to.

In so many ways, Miami felt Cuban enough, until Obama went to Cuba.

He was the first US president to go to the island in 90 years.

And then everyone else went.

Well, I haven't been to Cuba, I'm missing out.

- [Crowd] Hola Cuba!

- May be a selfish reason, but we- - We're gonna play in Cuba.

- We were invited to go play at La Fabrica.

(Spanish music plays) - [Narrator] Fabrica de Arte the hottest spot in Havana.

- We are meeting with our friends and family to discuss this.

So there is a little, there could be a little tension there.

It's painful, I think.

Well, Cuba was taken away from them in their eyes.

- Just ripped out of their hearts, and ripped outta their hands, and- - We're kind of answering for them.

And these are things that need to be brought up with them.

(phone rings) - Hello.

- Hi.

(speaking in Spanish) (Spanish) - I'm going Cuba, and I need your advice.

Can you tell me what I need to know?

(Spanish music plays) - What makes a Cuban a Cuban is probably how you were raised.

- Oh, we have in common food, music, (Spanish) - The loudness.

(chuckles) (Spanish) - I guess way we look.

- The sayings.

(Spanish) - I think for sure Cubans in Miami have their own unique culture, and we're kind of in a bubble, and I love it.

- In Cuba, we're not Cuban enough.

In Miami, we're us, outside of Miami, we're too Cuban.

(Spanish) - Are you guys playing for the Cuban people or for tourists?

- You know, that's a big question, because the place that we're playing, is an old oil factory that has been converted into an art space, it's amazing.

- It's like the Windwood of Lawana - It might not be cheap for Cuban people.

I don't know how much they make, but... - But they're allowed to come?

- But they're allowed to come, yeah.

- This is obviously like a dream for you, right?

- Absolutely.

- I know it's a dream for me playing in Cuba.

- I mean, for me, going to Cuba is the bigger dream than playing in Cuba.

But I think now for where I'm at in my life, it's like the perfect two together.

Sharing what I do, my love, and my art, and my passion, and being able to go with him, and all of that.

It's just like, you're not just gonna go to Cuba, there's a bonus, you're gonna play.

Yes, okay, let's do this.

- I was born in Havana, Cuba.

- I was born in Miami, yeah.

- Born in Cuba.

- I am originally from Miami, born and raised here.

And my parents are Cuban.

- I came from Cuba when I was 11 years old.

(Spanish) Pedro Pan, I came without any relatives.

- Moved to this country in '67 and started the first grade here.

(Spanish) (singing in Spanish) - [Producer] Do you feel Cuban?

- Do I feel?

- [Producer] Cuban?

- Of course.

- I don't identify myself as Cuban.

- I feel more American, definitely.

But I have, sometimes the Cuban comes out and I can't help it.

(chuckles) (Spanish) - A Cuban will say, I'm not Cuban, you know?

(Spanish) (thudding) (continues in Spanish) - I refuse to be Mr. Pilkington.

(Spanish) - I don't want to go.

- That's it.

- No, I don't wanna go to Cuba.

- You don't wanna go anymore?

- Yeah, I'll give you the tracks, you press play.

- No, you have to go.

And you have to go and you have to be an agent of change.

In other words, you have to speak out, and you have to say it.

- You know, you gotta watch your mouth.

I mean, I lived there, I went through the system.

There were Chivatos everywhere.

(ominous music) You gotta be very careful with speaking your mind.

- Yeah, you know what?

I don't mind going, stepping off a plane, playing, and getting back on, and coming right back.

But to be there 10 days, it doesn't make any sense to me.

- Are you telling me that you're not going to Cuba?

- No, I mean... - Because if you are telling me that you're not going to Cuba... - I don't wanna go.

- You can go if you wanna go.

- No, now I don't wanna go.

- He's gonna love you no matter what.

- My memories of Cuba are good and bad.

I mean, when you walk the streets, just the laughter the happiness, you certainly picked that up.

(Spanish) - Cuban food.

(Spanish) - I play with my cousins, and ride horses, and those are my best memories.

(Spanish) - My father was always a really big influence in making sure that I knew where my blood was from.

- I always thought my grandma was kidding that the best mamey was in Cuba, or the best, guanaban.

- The way I grew up viewing Cuba was like, this Garden of Eden on an island that was forbidden.

- They raise us with all these stories, right?

So we get connected to this place where we've never been, and we feel so Cuban.

It's like, how could they- - Deny us.

- Not expect us to wanna go back?

- I know- - That's a great point.

- But think about everything that they went through, right?

And then now, their perception is that our money that we are taking over there is going right into Fidel's pocket.

- Yes.

- That's how they feel.

- Right here.

- They lived through that, and we didn't.

And we can't empathize because we never went through that.

We never suffered like they did and they have their reasons.

(Spanish) - My father tried to leave two or three times and was caught, so obviously he couldn't leave.

And at some point he gave up.

- We decided to leave Cuba because my father was involved in the counter-revolution.

- I remember military people coming into my home and taking things, I also remember my parents hiding things.

- He recollected medications, food, and ammunitions.

- We would have someone that will come into class and they will start speaking about the goodness of the regime.

- And if you didn't agree with them, you were in big trouble, you know?

- We started taking everything out of the garage and going with grocery bags, and taking it to different people in town.

If they would've come, then they would've seen all this in the garage.

And I'm sure that my mother and father both would've been executed.

(Spanish) - You are going to Cuba as guests of the Cuban government.

You are VIPs, in other words, you're gonna be subjected to a degree of convenience that the Cuban people do not have, okay?

The Cuban people are enslaved, they are depraved, they are oppressed, okay?

You're gonna be privileged like all tourists are.

- They don't even know what you're talking about.

- I don't.

- When the tourists go there, they're going to see a zoo, they're going to see the animals, the beautiful tigers in captivity.

- Yeah, but if we don't do it now, this is the closest Cuba we're gonna see to what they saw and to their stories.

You know, when Starbucks, McDonald's, Home Depot moves in, when Home Depot goes there, that's it, bro.

(Spanish) - So you're gonna let the the Cuban out?

- Yeah, the Cuban thing, the type of music that we do, we can't play acoustic with cajn and congas.

So I'm curious how the electronic music is perceived there and will be received.

- I mean, there's all kinds of music in Cuba.

It's not like, it's just songs.

- I think they'll feel like you're just a reflection of them, like, it might not be Cuban music, but it's Cuban.

It's like fiesta.

- After the decision was made for us to leave Cuba, it took us a while for us to be able to leave.

- Back then in Cuba, they would do things to prevent you from leaving or just cause problems to delay your leaving the country.

(Spanish) - So they were basically doing farm work, almost like indentured servants, you could say, because they were like earning their (Spanish).

And then they didn't get to leave until they were granted their exit to go.

(Spanish) - When we finally came to the United States, we stayed two weeks in the Freedom Tower.

- When we got to the Freedom Tower, they gave us a little box that had like toothbrush, and toothpaste, and the fake cheese, and all that.

So, that's one of my first memories.

- When I came to the United States I thought I was gonna be here six months, and I've been here 59 years, which is unbelievable.

- I think Castro was a baseball player and he was a good baseball player.

What if he would've just kept playing baseball and never got into politics?

Would I be sitting in Cuba right now with us speaking in Spanish?

- What would Cuba be?

- What kind of music would you be making if you didn't have the access to software?

- I would've been a showgirl (Spanish).

- Exactly.

- With that kind of ignorance, what can you expect?

- But that's why we're having this conversation because we wanna know those things and we're asking you.

There's no way for me to know that, do I Google that?

I mean, we don't get to discuss this stuff in everyday life because it's very highly charged.

Everybody gets really emotional, it's really intense.

So, we're going to Cuba now on Monday, like days from now.

And that's the reason why we are getting together.

Because we need to know these things.

We need to hear it from you.

- I want you to see the Cuban sky.

I want you to see the beaches, I want you to see the sand.

I want you to see that ocean.

But most of all, I want you to feel the cry of the Cuban people for freedom.

That's Cuba.

(Spanish) - We can't not go to Cuba.

It's our calling, it's our birthright.

It's that thing that we have to do to complete the circle of who you are.

- I gotta be honest, I don't know too much about my Cuban identity.

I guess I'm gonna find out more as I get there, because I grew up here with toilet paper and running water.

- Oh my God.

- That's all I know.

- They need to know first, that it's a totalitarian system.

(Spanish) - They're not brainwashed.

- It's literally like nothing.

- We never had to stand in line to go and find food.

- Anything anti communist Cuba could potentially land you somewhere that you don't want to be, and then maybe never get heard from again.

- I don't think I could handle being there more than a day.

I could barely handle the Cubans that are just getting here now.

(Spanish) - We as Cuban Americans owe it to our family to not go and contribute to the Cuban government.

- If you want to see the real Cuba, go now.

(Spanish) - They see the mystery of the Cuban people, they go with dollars, rent a car, it's pathetic, it's a shame.

(Spanish) - When you live here and you visit... (ethereal music) - Hi, I just woke up and today is the day that we're going to Cuba.

(sighs) (mellow electronic music) (crowd cheering) (somber flute music) - You've been shown and told these things about who you are, and who your grandparents are, and where they lived, and how life was.

And you just know that you can never see it.

Not because it's in the past, but because you're not allowed.

I'm never gonna be able to understand my parents' pain and I don't wanna disrespect them, but I really, I need to see what it's about.

What if there's this thing that's just about the way Cubans are, that it's quintessentially Cuban, and it doesn't matter whether you're Cuban in Cuba, or you're Cuban in Miami?

(somber flute music fades) (Spanish) - This is depressing, even from the first thing that that taxi driver said.

(Spanish) - [Tony] I understand my parents now, they're brainwashed.

(Spanish) (wheels shrieking) (car ignition failing) - You hate it.

- I really hate it, I think it's ridiculous.

If it were up to me, I'd go back to Miami right now.

I don't care about playing here.

I don't care about spending a single penny here.

(car ignition failing) - [Producer] Good morning.

- Good morning.

- [Producer] How'd you sleep?

- Oh my God, I was freezing my (silence) off.

I need a shower I'm so gross.

And if you could smell my breath, you would die right now.

- [Producer] Oh, I just got a whiff.

You rented a car?

- I've just gone against everything that my parents and my parents' generation has argued and fought for us not to do, and I did it.

I feel like I just gave the Cuban government a thousand dollars.

(Spanish) (upbeat music) (Spanish) - We're so close, 503, that's it right there.

When we parked the car, we were right in front of my mom's old house, which is now a blood bank.

(Spanish) - Okay, and we couldn't go in and it was just that feeling of rejection, but then I figured that there would be some kind of roots here.

If people didn't know my mom, then they maybe knew my uncle or my aunt, they would know somebody.

And I met Charo, she knew our family really well.

(Spanish) - Hey buddy, oh my God, chihuahua heaven.

(Spanish) (singing in Spanish) - It was incredible, it really was incredible.

I really couldn't have expected that that was gonna happen.

- I'm not trying to be negative Johnson here but, is that really that interesting?

Like this, what we're doing right now, do you find that interesting?

Like, oh, I mean, I'm just trying to be realistic here.

We're not Jay-Z or Beyonce.

(mellow electronic music) (Spanish) (singing in Spanish) (Spanish) (upbeat guitar music) (Spanish) (Cristy sings in Spanish) (Spanish) (Cristy sings in Spanish) (car wheels shrieking) (Spanish) - [Tony] All right.

(Spanish) (bang) - I'm getting a lot of hate mail from my family.

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, Tony's cousin?

Oh, she's very upset because Tony went there.

- "Just found out you went to Cuba to play.

I'm deeply saddened and hurt by your actions.

Hope it's worth it.

Knowing the pain and terror our family went through at the hand of those people."

She didn't even go through that.

- I think that she hates Castro more than I do.

So when she found out that Tony went to Cuba, she felt like Tony was a traitor.

- She's never even been here.

She didn't go through any pain.

(ethereal electronic music) - I came here to have fun, do you wanna have fun?

Let's go.

(Spanish) (upbeat music) (singing in Spanish) - I felt connected seeing them, like, the passion with which they play.

I mean, the girl that was saying the violin, it was like, she was like tearing my heart apart.

The violin was like (Spanish) like right there.

- Yeah.

- It was amazing, it was amazing, it was magic.

And so, just with music, we connect.

- I feel robbed that I should have- - Been able to study music in Cuba.

- Yes.

- I knew you were gonna say that.

- Part of me feels robbed.

- Why did we grow up in Miami?

We should have grown up here, I learned music here.

- Because if I would've been raised here, I would've been playing with all those people.

(upbeat music continues) (mellow electronic music) - Miami to Havana, we're gonna show him how we do represent.

And I smell.

- Let me see.

- I smell like Cuba.

- No, no, you smell like that fancy deodorant.

(crowd cheering) (Spanish) (Cristy sings in Spanish) - I remember feeling this huge need, this big curiosity, this huge feeling of, I have to do this thing.

There's a purity in intention and there's a purity in art that I experience there, and I see, that I admire very much.

- Good to finally hear the musicianship that everybody talks about.

- And I think also too, going there made me realize how different we really, really are.

- Completely.

- I think completely the feeling of being Cuban was wrapped up in my parents' nostalgia, and the way they raised us, and all these little things that were like, oh, this is what makes me Cuban.

- It all disappeared.

- Growing up in Miami, then you go there and you're like, - oh.

- That's nothing of what they, - this is not.

- It's completely different.

- So many things that happened that we couldn't have planned.

- [Producer] Are you Cuban?

- Yeah, faux Cuban.

- I think the answer now would be, I'm Cuban American, or American Cuban, American with Cuban parents.

- 87% Cuban.

(Cristy continues to sing in Spanish) (crowd cheers) (Spanish) (ethereal music) (Spanish) - You know, it's a feeling.

- [Interviewee] I feel like it runs through my veins.

So that's just who I am.

- [Interviewee] I don't know, I guess it just never goes away.

- [Interviewee] The story of the Cuban people is the story of people who are being subjected to a dictatorship, that's suffering.

When you put it in the annals of history, it doesn't seem to be much.

But what the Cuban people have suffered is in terms of humanity.

People died, people left the country.

And the only people that are gonna feel that is the people that suffered what was going on at that time in history.

Forget about us, that's not gonna work.

What's gonna work is the connection between the young people here and the young people in Cuba to make a change, to make a vision into the future of Cuba and the world.

(upbeat electronic music in Spanish) (Spanish) - That's a good question.

- Wait, can you repeat the question?

- The favorite of saying, wow, it's so many.

You mean it's like slang?

(Spanish) - There's a lot of Cuban sayings that I like, but I think the one that I like the most, that I get a lot of too, from like older relatives is, (Spanish).

Which is basically that the devil knows more by being around than by being a jerk, by how long he's been around than by being a jerk, so yeah, the wisdom.

(Spanish) - It just means if you're lazy, you get swept by the current, you know what I mean?

So you gotta keep swimming against it to get your way.

(Spanish) - Tell me who you are hanging around with and I will tell you what kind of a person you are.

- I don't know, you really got me there, you know?

- My mother always says it, (Spanish).

But I also like, (Spanish).

I think that's so like, because, in case of the flies, really?

(Spanish) - Better late than never.

(Spanish).

- Throw yourself into it and immerse yourself into whatever work you're doing.

- I say like a lot.

But I think that's a Miami thing, not a Cuban thing.

I didn't know that, "Maletas" met luggage for years.

I didn't know how to say that in English, and like English, I spoke English my whole life.

So there was just certain things that, it's more Spanglish than anything.

(Spanish) (silence) - You say to a Cuban, "Look at that beautiful woman," and the guy says (silence).

Or you say to him, (Spanish), wow, don't tell me.

It's just unbelievable.

The meaning is that, in Spain it's a very bad word, but in Cuba you say (silence) like nothing.

So, yes, I'll settle with that.

- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided in part by the Knight Foundation and by the following: Up All Night Holdings, Bob Gershen.

For a complete list of funders, please visit www.jaymgershen.com/birthright.