The cracks in this case became more serious and deeper in Havana from the 90s until they were definitively established on the surface of the city. The capital was a society on the limit. Hopes walked at ground level, camels were rolling beasts, and thousands of bicycles circulated fueled by the few calories that could burn the body. From those cracks was born precisely another city, another time. A city where a hive of young people covers the silence of waiting with an explosion of rock and roll.
National rock began to live an inspiring and luminous stage that was nourished by the creativity of a rosary of bands that since the beginning underground They were willing to include themselves in history by telling precisely the other story that grew outside the official discourse.
Havana, Cosa Nostra, Strange Heart, Garage H, Landscape with Ro They were some of the groups that served as a soundtrack to the desire to change the world of a generation that added rock and roll to disenchantment from the depths of society. A part of those groups did not have the possibility of leaving recording testimonies of their time in Cuban music, except for specific examples, and a good part of their work only remained in the memory of their followers and in the incombustible nights of the concerts.
In 2003 the cracks were still there, but the light was also looking for a way to manifest itself. That was the year in which Tesis de Menta emerged, a natural heir to that scene. Created by the vocalist, composer and guitarist Roberto Perdomo, it had its debut album in 2006. with my generation, an album that showed that the band was not just another in Cuban music. The sound palette of the songs moved between Argentine rock, hard rock, country, blues and new Cuban trova. This entire soundscape is crisscrossed by lyrics that highlighted the most critical conflicts of society that were passed from generation to generation and returned, transmuted, to the present.
The lineup presented decent credentials with Mi Generacin, an album that, with notable songs like Incomunicados and Yarini 1910, defined the personality of the group, which at that time already showed a high-quality live performance in the best style of any team of its kind on the international circuit. .
At the end of the first decade of the 2000s they achieved the merit of carving out a niche for themselves in the Cuban rock scene. I say merit because the Cuban scene has historically been dominated by the most extreme sounds of metal, an orientation that has become more radical in recent years due to the lack of other more expansive proposals in terms of its rhythmic range.
Thesis of Menta spoke with the language of his generation, of his followers, of the reality that lived on the margins of pain. Together with the leadership of Perdomo and the vocal strength of its first singer Beatrix Valdés and the notable support of the rest of its members, the band maintained a very solid discourse within Cuban music, something that was perceived above all in the torrent of energy that released during their concerts.
The group went through various stages in which there was no shortage of misunderstanding and censorship. One of the most notorious cases was the banning of the video for My Generation, directed by Pavel Giroud, with references to the iconic film Thelma and Louise. The music, however, prevailed over censorship and although the video clip remained shelved, the group did not stop defending national rock both on stage and in their record productions.
My generation was followed by albums like Fragmentos (Colibr, 2008) and Luz (PM Rcords, 2013) (Ro Arriba, 2017). In these songs they show signs of the compositional maturity that the band was reaching and its evident evolution in the Cuban scene. In 2016, Suyln Milans took Beatrix’s place as singer and the band continued its course towards the top it occupied before Perdomo emigrated to Miami more than 4 years ago.
One of the cardinal moments of their career was the song they recorded with Pablo Milans in Luz. It was about Letting go of tiesa song that, although it has hardly been spread on the island, is already a classic in the team’s repertoire.
Pablo himself indicated to me during a visit to his home in Havana that he was satisfied with the result of Soltando. and that in some way had inspired him for new projects within song and rock.
Perdomo was very close to Pablo and Suyln. So much so that he recorded the last album for the deceased singer from Miami in January 2022, less than 11 months after the death of her father, Pablo, in November of that same year. Two blows that, due to their proximity, were a point-blank shot in the personal and creative life of leader Tesis.
The reinvention of Tesis in Miami
In 2019, Perdomo emigrated to Miami. He left behind a story of proven relevance in the Cuban scene. He also left a loyal group of followers who regularly attended his concerts, and who saw themselves reflected in those songs whose momentum and energy could only be fully felt in Tesis’ live shows.
In Miami, he faced a difficult scenario for Cuban rock musicians. Maybe at some point Perdomo felt like he was in no man’s land. The reality was different and so were the conflicts. In Cuba the crisis worsened and the country did not stop beating in the distance. Thus, with these almost labyrinthine feelings, he gave body to his reinvention. In fact, he brought together several of the former members of Tesis who live in the city and started the band’s machinery again.
Miami is a conservative city. When I arrived there were few bands that didn’t do covers. The same work that it cost me to work in Cuba, which was not easy for me, I thought it would cost me in Miami, but through effort I have been able to defend and insert my work, says Perdomo.
The musician emphasizes the cultural transformation that the city has experienced with the mass migration of Cubans and other Latin American nations during the last two years. The musicians are here, the painters, the writers, and all that has given a new appearance to art.
In Miami, Tesis has recorded their new album material accompanied by vocalist Rebeca Rosabal, guitarist Tony Cazorla, drummer David Surez and Yordn Cárdenas on bass. Exist It is an album of twelve songs composed and arranged by Perdomo, in which from his own internal dialogues the guitarist shows the pain of the separation of the country and puts it in dialogue with the pain of a part of the Cubans and with different perspectives on the place of the artist in the world.
“It is the hardest work of the band,” says the musician and cites songs like foam wingsrecorded with the rapper Escuadrn Patriota, Mr. Show, a critique of global musical decadence and the song that gives its name to the album, which will be released with the production company created by Perdomo in Miami.
Tesis has once again demonstrated with this album that it has everything to continue placing its name in the golden pages of Cuban rock, with its own work that does not turn its back on its founding discourse and the sound budgets that it has maintained over time. . To prove it, you just have to attend one of those nights when Tesis lights up the stages with the force of Cuban rock that emerged from those cracks where the light always enters.
