Mujeres

Mujeres is an album created by Silvio Rodríguez, a leading figure of the Cuban Nueva Trova movement. Nueva Trova is a musical genre that fuses folk, protest music, and revolutionary ideals. Rodríguez’s music is deeply tied to political movements and collective resistance rather than emphasizing personal narratives. His work was state-supported in Cuba, which created a complex dynamic. While he was resisting capitalist individualism, he was also part of a government-led cultural movement.

Mujeres was released during the Cuban Revolution’s consolidation, reflecting themes of socialist struggle, feminism, and collective identity. His lyrics reject capitalist individualism, often emphasizing solidarity with the poor, the oppressed, and revolutionary causes. This album highlights the role of women in revolutionary movements, breaking from the male-centered narratives of both the Western and Cuban music industries.

Album covers during the Nueva Trova movement often embraced a minimalist, DIY aesthetic, avoiding the glossy commercial styles of capitalist music markets. Many covers used woodcut-style portraits, evoking solidarity with working-class struggles and traditional Latin American art forms. The cover features stylized portraits of women, often in a sketch-like or woodcut aesthetic, which recalls the visual language of revolutionary propaganda posters from Latin America, particularly the Cuban political art of the 1960s and 70s.