Over the weekend, Major Lazer became the first U.S. act to play in Cuba since United States President Barack Obama began taking steps to normalize diplomatic (Diplo-matic?) ties between the Caribbean country and the U.S. The EDM act played a set in Havana on March 6.
Major Lazer shared an overhead shot of the massive crowd that had gathered to see the show.
On a second shot of the crowd from the stage, the group revealed that 400,000 people came out to see the group.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCodQUknwk2/
Fans also shared their own clips from the historic show.
.@diplo and @majorlazer took Havana. And it was ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/tKeE9pxFlK
— Paige Kendig (@PaigeKK) March 6, 2016
Major Lazer hizo bailar a Cuba en TN Móvil https://t.co/2aapaL4lt6 vía @todonoticias
— Ger Mercado!! (@HeyPucha) March 7, 2016
In a press release prior to the show, Diplo explained his reasoning for wanting to play Cuba.
“For as long as I can remember, Cuba has played an influential role on my love of music — Cuba has such a powerful cultural impact all over the world and for me, especially growing up in Florida, it became one of the biggest cultural centers for music to evolve from. I was lucky enough to visit Cuba a few years back with my friends Calle 13 and during my four days there my mind was blown by the people, depth of culture and their way of life. Going back to perform in 2016 and to be a part of the culture once again is a huge blessing and I couldn’t be more honored to bring the Major Lazer project there.”
Of course, other bands have disregarded American politics to perform in Cuba under the regime of the Castro family — Audioslave performed a free concert in Havana in 2005, for example — but hopefully this is the first of many more acts who will be able to freely perform in the Caribbean nation.
(Via Billboard)
