The True (Forgotten) Story of Havana’s John Lennon Park
HAVANA TIMES — In December of 1990, I took part in one of the most beautiful music events I can recall. I am referring to the first, great concert held as tribute to John Lennon in Havana, at the park located on the intersection of 17 and 6th streets in Vedado. Years later, a statue of Lennon would be unveiled there and the park would officially come to be named after the legendary English musician.
The first homage to Lennon began to be organized months before as an initiative of Cuban musicians Carlos and Ele Alfonso and the band Sintesis. They were later joined by the renowned singers Carlos Varela, Santiago Feliu, Pepe Piñeiro (a former member of Los Pacificos), Dagoberto Pedraja, the band Gens, Pablo Menendez and his band Mezcla, Gerardo Alfonso and, of course, a group of filmmakers, writers, painters, technicians and other passionate friends who shared the half-baked dream of paying tribute to Lennon and the Beatles, as well as right the injustice that the banning of the Liverpool Four in Cuba during the 60s and 70s had meant.
Source: Havana Times
