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Cuba Bans Reggaeton And Other 'Vulgar' Music From TV And Radio Stations

Reggaeton Will Be Forbidden In Cuba
Hirania Luzardo
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HAVANA, CUBA: TO GO WITH AFP STORY Cuban reggaeton dance instructor Laura Dellano (L) shows to her Swiss student Laura Ameti the basic dance steps during a class at the SprachCaffe 04 February, 2007 in Havana. A blend of reggae and rap rhythms, the reggaeton is very popular in Cuba. AFP PHOTO/ADALBERTO ROQUE (Photo credit should read ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images)

All music with "aggressive lyrics," or that is "sexually explicit, obscene, or misrepresents the inherent sensuality of Cuban women" will be banned from the Cuban media, according to new guidelines from the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM).In an interview with Granma newspaper, Orlando Vistel, chairman of ICM, the official organ of the Communist Party, said the agency and its institutions have taken steps that "go from the disqualification of those who violate professional ethics in their presentations, to the imposition of severe sanctions from those institutions that encourage or allow such practices."

"It is not only about reggaeton. Vulgar, banal and mediocre expressions that are recorded in other musical practices. We should not particularize in a genre. But the fact remains that reggaeton is much more noticeable,” said the Communist leader when asked specifically about whether this was limited to reggaeton music, popular in the Caribbean island.

With these new policies the island’s government seeks to ensure the public that it will enter into a "process of depuration of the art catalogs from our entities, which aims to eradicate any practice that contains substance that distances from the legitimacy of Cuban popular culture."

He assured that both Cuban radio and television, "will be just a representative presence of the best of the catalogs of our institutions."

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Before You Go

Photos From Cuba
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A santera looks back while crossing the street where a wall is covered with a mural of the Cuban flag and an image of Cuba's revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Havana, Cuba, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. After economic reforms by President Raul Castro were endorsed by the communist congress in mid-2011, the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) is preparing to hold a party conference this weekend. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (credit:AP)
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Maria Karla Curvelo smiles while watching other children playing on the last day of the summer holidays in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Sept 2, 2012. Cuba's neighborhood networks called Committees for the Defense of the Revolution organize street games for children the day before they start a new school year. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (credit:AP)
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Schoolchildren hoist the Cuban national flag on the first day of school of the 2011-2012 academic year, in Havana, on September 5, 2011. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A woman makes her way in a street in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Oct.26, 2010. Tuesday the UN General Assembly will meet to vote the end of the embargo that has been affecting Cuba's economy since 1962. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano) (credit:AP)
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US cargo ship "Ana Cecilia" arrives at the Havana Bay, Cuba, early Friday, July 13, 2012. The "Ana Cecilia" is the first ship for half a century to carry humanitarian supplies from Miami to Havana. The shipping company, International Port Corporation, said its clients include charitable, religious, and humanitarian groups, as well as family members of people in Cuba. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (credit:AP)
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People make their way along a street in Havana, Cuba, early Friday Sept. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano) (credit:AP)
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A girl in her school uniform crosses the street where flowers sit for sale in a cart in Havana, Cuba, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. After economic reforms by President Raul Castro were endorsed by the communist congress in mid-2011, the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) is preparing to hold a party conference this weekend. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (credit:AP)
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In this picture taken April 17, 2012, a man rides a pedicab through the streets of Old Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) (credit:AP)
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Self-employed Carlos Alberto Gonzalez, right, and his assistant weigh a bag of onions to sell in the streets of Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (credit:AP)
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The window of a garden company is decorated with a picture of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Cuban national flags in Havana, 18 December 2007. Castro, 81, has made it abundantly clear for the first time that he may never come back to public life, even if he remains a powerful force behind the scenes. In a letter read out on state television Monday, Castro confirmed what many suspected for months, and also threw the spotlight on a rising new generation of communist leadership without naming interim President Raul Castro. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A crowd estimated at more than 500 thousand Cuban workers participate in the May Day parade in Havana, on May 01, 2008. AFP PHOTO/ADALBERTO ROQUE (Photo credit should read ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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More than 500 thousand Cuban workers participate in the May Day parade in Havana, on May 01, 2008. AFP PHOTO/ADALBERTO ROQUE (Photo credit should read ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Supporters of the Cuban government deploy a huge Cuban flag over the facade of the house where a group of members of the Ladies in White Cuban dissident organization are meeting, on March 18, 2011, in Havana. More than twenty women activists met to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the 'Primavera Negra' (Black Spring), when 75 Cuban oppositors were jailed. AFP PHOTO/ADALBERTO ROQUE (Photo credit should read ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A veteran of the Revolution wears his military medals and holds a Cuban flag at an event celebrating Revolution Day in Guantanamo, Cuba, Thursday, July 26, 2012. Cuba marks the 59th anniversary of the July 26, 1953 rebel attack led by Fidel and Raul Castro on the Moncada military barracks. The attack is considered the beginning of the revolution that culminated with dictator Fulgencio Batista's ouster. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (credit:AP)
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Lebanese soldiers stand guard behind Cuban and Lebanese protesters from leftist groups holding Cuban flags and portraits of five Cubans held in U.S. prisons, marking the 14th anniversary of their arrest in Florida in 1998, during a sit-in near the U.S. embassy in Aukar, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. The five were convicted of spying for Cuba and sentenced to terms that ranged from 10 years to life in prison. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) (credit:AP)
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