Al cantío de un gallo radio program audio recordings
Collection
Call Number: MS 1960
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of approximately 1000 audio recordings of the Al cantío de un gallo radio program, as well as a small number of recordings of other radio programs. Al cantío de un gallo broadcast news (political, economic, cultural, and social), commentaries, interviews, and some music, pertaining to Cuba and Cuban exiles. The primary contributors were Carlos Franqui and Alfredo Melero, but frequent guest contributors included: Rodolfo Silva, Felipe Rodriguez, and Amalia Montijo. Interviewees included independent reporters, exiles and emigrants, former prisoners, activists, Cubans living in Cuba, leaders of exile organizations, and writers. The program provided news and information the producers believed was suppressed by the Cuban government and provided a venue for independent news reporting. Common topics include Fidel Castro; Carlos Franqui; human rights violations; living conditions; the revolution of 1959 and earlier revolutions; Jose Martí; the exile experience; significant events, such as the sinking of the tugboat “13 de Marzo”; relations with other countries, especially Russia, United States and China; and writers and literature. Al cantío de un gallo ran through Cuba’s “special period” (1990-1996), a period of economic crisis brought on by the collapse of the Soviet Union. As such, the economy is another major theme in the program throughout the 1990s. Economic topics include the United States embargo, foreign investment, tourism, and prostitution. Melero and Franqui also describe Cuba before 1959, with an emphasis on the loss of freedom, culture, and traditions. The recordings offer insight into the Cuban revolution, conditions in Cuba under Castro, resistance to Castro’s rule, and the Cuban exile experience. The recordings are on sixty- and ninety-minute audiocassettes with one program per side. Each radio program has approximately twenty minutes of content. The original cassette insert labels were retained and filed at the end of the collection.
Dates
- Circa 1988-1999
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
The entire collection is digitized. Researchers must use the digital use copies instead of the originals.
Original audiovisual materials, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers wishing to obtain an additional copy for their personal use should consult Copying Services information on the Manuscripts and Archives web site.
The entire collection is digitized. Researchers must use the digital use copies instead of the originals.
Original audiovisual materials, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers wishing to obtain an additional copy for their personal use should consult Copying Services information on the Manuscripts and Archives web site.
Existence and Location of Copies
The entire collection is available in digital form.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by Voz del Cuba Independiente y Democratica was transferred to Yale University in 2009. These materials may be used for non-commercial purposes without seeking permission from Yale University as the copyright holder. For other uses of these materials, please contact mssa.assist@yale.edu.
Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Arrangement
The tapes are arranged by tape number assigned by the repository.
Extent
7.75 Linear Feet (602 audiocassettes and 1box)
Language of Materials
Spanish; Castilian
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection consists of audio recordings of Al cantío de un gallo radio program, as well as a small number of recordings of other radio programs. Al cantío de un gallo broadcast news (political, economic, cultural, and social), commentaries, interviews, and some music, pertaining to Cuba and Cuban exiles. The primary contributors were Carlos Franqui and Alfredo Melero. The recordings offer insight into the Cuban revolution, conditions in Cuba under Castro, resistance to Castro rule, and the Cuban exile experience. The program ran from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
Biographical / Historical
Al cantío de un gallo was a radio program broadcast by Cuban exiles Carlos Franqui and Alfredo Melero into Cuba, largely from Puerto Rico, Florida, and Central America, via a clandestine radio station called La Voz del CID. La Voz posited itself as the “voice of the opposition” (to Fidel Castro). The radio program, generally critical of Fidel Castro and his government consisted of news (political, economic, cultural, and social), commentaries, interviews, and some music. The program was produced by the Huber Matos’ Cuba Independiente y Democrática (CID). Carlos Franqui and Huber Matos were both part of the revolutionary movement that helped Castro overthrow the Batista regime. They became disenchanted with Castro, objecting to his authoritarianism and shift to communism. In 1959, Matos was charged with treason and jailed by Castro, eventually released in 1979. He went into exile in the United States, where he founded CID and became one of the most important participants in the opposition to the Castro regime. Carlos Franqui (1921-2010) was a journalist, writer, poet, and prominent member of the revolutionary movement. He ran Radio Rebelde, was the editor of Revolucíon, and, later, was a major contributor to Lunes de revolución. After becoming critical of Castro and the revolutionary government, Franqui was exiled from Cuba in the 1960s and lived first in Europe and then Puerto Rico, where he died in 2010. His many publications include the periodical Carta de Cuba (with Alfredo Melero); Diario de la Revolución cubana; Cuba, la revolución, ¿mito o realidad?; Retrato de familias con Fidel; and Vida, aventuras y desastres de un hombre llamado Castro. In addition to his work on Al cantío de un gallo, Alfredo Melero was co-founder of Carta de Cuba and a coordinator of Cuba Independiente y Democrática (CID). Al cantío de un gallo ran from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
Custodial History
Purchased by and transferred from the Latin American Curator, 2009.
General
This collection was digitized through the generous support of the Arcadia Foundation.
- Title
- Guide to the Al cantío de un gallo Radio Program Audio Recordings
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- compiled by staff of International Digital Projects and Mary Caldera
- Date
- April 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English and Spanish.
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
mssa.assist@yale.edu
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
mssa.assist@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511