It’s one of those stories that escapes the hackneyed comparison with the village of Asterix: “All of Puerto Rico is occupied by reggaeton players… Everything? No! A group of irreducible musicians resists, again and again, to make reggae without rhyme. they are Prophetic culturea group that has embraced the teachings of Bob Marley for thirty years, with less Rastafarianism and more romanticism in its songs, which has millions of followers in Latin America and which will perform this Tuesday at the WiZink Center with tickets sold (in format “ring”, for nearly 6,000 people).
“It took us a while to start coming to Europe because we didn’t want to compromise the quality of our show,” explains Willy Rodríguez (vocals and bass). “We have a very specific language and we can’t hire musicians in every country, so things don’t work as well. It took a lot of work, but we are already starting to come more frequently. Madrid, in particular, is the city where we are seeing the greatest growth in the number of our supporters.
Many Spaniards have discovered Cultura Profética in recent years thanks to the possibilities offered by streaming, but the increase in Latin immigration has undoubtedly been the most determining factor for why they have more and more followers here. “One hundred percent,” agrees Rodríguez. “The first times we came, the audience was made up exclusively of Venezuelans and Dominicans. But recently there have been other countries, and also more and more Spaniards.
Cultura Profética began in 1996 playing “every corner of Puerto Rico, opening for all the reggae stars that came to the island, Alpha Blondie, Steel Pulse, Culture, Israel Vibration, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, The Skatalites…” said Rodríguez. And it was during one of these concerts, we don’t remember which one, when, when he started to sing the first song, the audience responded by chanting so loudly that Rodríguez had to take “three steps” back, as if he had been hit by a gust of hurricane wind. “It was the first time I said ‘but what’s going on here?’ I had to contain myself because it really affected me. “I swallowed hard, went back to the microphone and started singing, knowing that something big was starting to happen to us.”
During their four decades of life, they combined reggae with pop, ballads, bachata, hip-hop or bossa nova, but never with reggaeton, although they lived in one of the Meccas of the genre and have collaborated with some of its stars like Ozuna or Jowell and Randy. “We bring them to reggae,” laughs Omar Silva (guitar and bass). “It’s true that what is most popular on the island, and throughout the world, is reggaeton. But we survived! “We have no problem with this style, but it comes from us and we are sure that our fans do not expect us to follow any trend.” In fact, as they themselves confirm, if they composed a song with a dembow beat, many of their supporters would see it as “a betrayal.”
Puerto Rico being a country with a special relationship with the United States, it is interesting to know what Cultura Profética thinks of the presidential elections taking place a few days after passing through Spain. “Here I will speak only for myself, because I do not know if my colleagues all agree. In my opinion, none of them are good. But between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, he is the least dangerous,” declares Willy Rodríguez while the others nod in agreement. “With him there have been fewer wars and the economy has improved, and Kamala is in favor of globalist agendas and a type of gender education that worries me as a father.”
