Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez took part in a tribute to the late Chilean singer and composer Violeta Parra, marking the 90th anniversary of her birth.

Rodriguez contributed five pieces to the delight of the 15,000 folk music lovers who packed Santiago de Chile's O'Higgins Park on a cool summer evening. Neither the accumulated exhaustion from his recent tour of Spain to promote his Erase que era CD, nor organizational problems related to his December 2 free concert in Talca, were obstacles for Rodriguez, who practically went directly from the airport to the concert.

Among the songs Silvio performed at the tribute to Violeta was Cita con Angeles, a warning about the need to continue to defend human dignity.

Chilean Culture Minister Paulina Urrutia thanked Silvio Rodriguez for his performance, adding that his songs "form part of the soundtrack of many of us."

Sharing the stage with Silvio were several popular groups, such as Los Tres, Congreso, Mecánica Popular and artists related to Violeta Parra.

Silvio's visit coincided with that of fellow Cuban musician Leo Brouwer. Silvio spoke about the contribution made by the Cuban guitar maestro to the training of singer-songwriters of his generation, especially his involvement in the Cuban Film Institute's Experimental Sound Group, back in the 1970s.

A few months ago, in Cordoba, Spain, speaking about the importance of Leo Brouwer, Rodriguez said, "We had a teacher-student relationship with Leo, but more importantly, we had a very fraternal relationship. We were friends, colleagues. And it wasn't a matter of privilege, because that's the way Leo treats everybody. I mean, he is an extraordinarily approachable person, someone who just as easily will give you a piece of advice on harmonic structures as on how to make a girl fall in love. All these things are useful, and Leo is a maestro in all of them."
(PL)