The concert that the Cuban singer planned to perform Omara Portuondo at the Rochester International Jazz Festival (RIJF), New York, was canceled “due to circumstances beyond the artist’s control.”
This was explained by the organization of the Festival in a announcement in which they expressed their disappointment at not being able to count on the Cuban artist this Sunday, June 25, at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.
“Omara Portuondo’s morning concert has been canceled due to circumstances beyond our control and that of the artist. Ms. Portuondo was scheduled to travel here and to other performances in the United States from Havana, Cuba,” the RIJF said in a statement.
Tickets sold will be refunded, including service charges, the organization said, sharing a message from Omara’s agent.
“Due to force majeure events beyond our control, including air travel disruptions and US immigration policies and delays, Ms. Omara Portuondo is unable to arrive in Rochester in time to perform on Sunday. June 25 at the Rochester International Jazz Festival,” said the artist’s agent.
Although it is not explicitly stated, everything indicates that the Cuban singer and the musicians who accompany her did not receive the visas on time to travel to the United States.
“We are extremely disappointed with the current events that occurred on Wednesday, June 21, and that surprised us all,” said the agent’s statement, who thanked the Festival organization for “understanding the situation while working with us to resolve the issues. ”.
In July 2022, during a tour of Europe, the Cuban diva declared that “the United States does not care about Cuba at all, so nothing has changed and everything that Barack Obama did has been taken away. Joe Biden has done almost nothing in Cuba”.
Interviewed by the Spanish agency EFEthe ninety-year-old artist referred to Cuban news and entered fields that are not usually dealt with by the press, such as politics, specifically, relations between Cuba and the United States.
He also assured that the crisis that the country is experiencing is largely due to “the blockade that the United States continues to impose unfairly,” although he said that “some of the ideas in Cuba that no longer work must also be changed.”
The “girlfriend of feeling” was awarded in 2019 with the Latin Grammy for his career for his contributions to Latin American and world music. She has been a tireless defender of the African roots within the culture of the Island.
In December 2020, the renowned singer received from the hands of the Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel the title of “Labor Heroine of the Republic of Cuba”, which she effusively thanked the Council of State and her audience for a lifetime.
