Imagine

ARTICLE

IMAGINE

BY: JULIO A. LARRAMENDI

On the anniversary of John Lennon's death

From early in the cold and gray morning, little by little people of all ages arrive carrying flowers, mostly red, white and yellow roses, and they are making a circle around the memorial that in small gray and black tiles contains a single word: IMAGINE.

It is December 8 in Central Park in New York, very close to the Dakota building, in front of which, on the same day in 1980, John Lennon received those five shots that took the life of one of the greatest composers and performers of all the times. A legend was born, and also the tradition of the meeting.

The persistent rain does not prevent a good number of admirers of his music, thought and action from gathering in a short time. Many remember his origins and the fame of The Beatles, with whom he composed and performed pieces still sung by our grandchildren today, in a time permanence unusual in music called "popular". Others, the years alone, in which he created songs turned into hymns of peace and love. Some, the years in the United States, harassed by authorities who were trying to get rid of that short-sighted hairy and rebellious. And all, the absurd death in the best moment of his creativity and when he tried to control the demons of him.

Young and old arrive with guitars, and each one sings his favorite song. Without prior agreement, following the first chords of a white-bearded sixty-year-old, the voices come together:

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one ...

A tear runs down a wrinkled cheek and a light shines in eyes that never saw the author.

In Cuba, in a park in Vedado, since 2000 nationals and visitors worship the musician from Liverpool. On December 8, on the 20th anniversary of the disastrous day, the life-size sculpture created by José Villa Soberón was unveiled. It was the deserved tribute of the Cubans and the official reparation for a previous stage in which it was not well seen to admire British and North American rock and pop. Since then, photography with Lennon sitting on a park bench has been a ritual.

Nearby, joined by the pedestrian crossing sign that recalls the famous photo on the Abbey Road album cover, is the El Submarino Amarillo club, where rock bands, both young people and "dinosaurs" from the 60-70s, perform. , in an environment that reproduces covers and photographs of the group that changed the culture in many ways. Among so many images, one in black and white of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the kitchen of their apartment in the Dakota, with Che de Korda on the wall.

PHOTOS

12+