Silvio Rodriguez
Humor Museum, unique of its kind in Cuba, is located in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa. The institution, declared Local Monument in 1980, boasts a valuable heritage of general humor, political satire, and personal caricature created by national and foreign authors.
Ariguanabense personalities are represented in personal caricatures, outlined by cuban artists. One of these works personifies the singer Silvio Rodriguez Dominguez, an illustrious son of Ariguanabo, born on November 29TH, 1946 in San Antonio de los Baños. He is a troubadour and an artist. He received piano lessons and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts "San Alejandro". Silvio Rodriguez is a founder of the New Trova Movement and a worthy exponent of cuban music. In 1967, he debuted on national television. He joined the group of founders of the Group ‘’Experimentación Sonora’’ of ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry), which specialized in creating soundtrack. "Días y Flores" was his first álbum, produced by Frank Fernandez.
Music and lyrics of hundreds of songs were composed by Silvio Rodriguez, who has a prolific discography. Some films, soap operas and plays were set to music by him, and his works have been translated into French, Italian, German, and English, as well Portuguese, Guarani, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish and Catalan. He contributed to the construction of the recording studios "Abdala" and "Ojalá" in Havana, and "Eusebio Delfín" in Cienfuegos. He published books: "Canciones del Mar" in 1996 and "Cancionero" in 2008.
Among the decorations, Silvio Rodriguez holds the National Music Prize, 2004 and ALBA Prize in Arts category, 2010. He won the Luigi Tenco Award (San Remo, Italy) and was named UNESCO Artist for Peace. He also received the Latino Award for lifework, given by Arts and Sciences Academy of Music of Spain, while the University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru gave him in 2007 the title ‘’Doctor Honoris Causa’’. In 2008, he led the guild of cuban artists who performed at several prisons. Since the end of 2010 he leads a guild of musicians, writers and artists who are protagonists in an extensive tour for the most vulnerable neighborhoods of Havana.
Author
Personal caricature: "Silvio en su estudio", created by the architect and caricaturist Fausto Martínez García from Havana, is part of the endowment of the Humor Museum. He compets on the National Salons of Graphic Humor. He participated in the National Salon of Personal Caricature Juan David, also in humorous posters contests. Fausto Martínez also showed his works in Istanbul and Turkey Salons; in Tokyo, Japan and in Tolentino, Italy. He is a member of the UNAICC (National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers of Cuba), and the UNEAC (National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba). He has several provincial and national awards. He won in 1989 Graciela de Armas Prize at the first National Salon of Personal Caricature Juan David in San Antonio de los Baños, a permanent seat of the artistic event.