A young Cuban based in New York captivated social media by rewriting the song "La Catalina" as a story about exile, separated families, and the pain of Cubans who spend decades waiting to return to the island.
Kevin, known on Instagram as @kevusho, confessed that he couldn't even interpret the lyrics in one go.
"I had to record it five times because I kept crying. I hope you like these lyrics that come from the bottom of my heart and represent a feeling shared by many of us migrants," she explained alongside the video.
The performance quickly resonated with thousands of people. In less than five days, the reel surpassed 1.2 million views, garnered over 135,000 likes, and received thousands of comments.
"La Catalina" is a song performed by Peruvian singer Rosario García-Montero and released in 2013. Its story is derived from an ancient romance of Hispano-American oral tradition. The original lyrics revolve around Catalina, a woman who waits for years for the return of her husband, a soldier who went off to war, until the passage of time leads to an unexpected reunion.
Kevin completely transformed the story of "La Catalina." In his version, the protagonist is a Cuban who has been away from the island for 30 years, yet she continues to live with the hope that her absence is temporary and that one day she will be able to return.
The story changes when a young man approaches Catalina and reveals, "I am the son of your son, the one you saw grow up."
He is her grandson. The passage of time ultimately asserts itself over that hope of returning to the Cuba she left behind: "The Cuba you remember is just a memory."
Kevin later relates Catalina's individual story to the plight of thousands of Cuban families separated by emigration.
"How many more will have to leave? How many will not be able to return?" he asks during one moment of the performance.
The reactions demonstrated how deeply the story resonated with a shared experience among Cubans both on the island and abroad.
"Only Cubans understand the feeling," wrote a user in one of the most supported comments.
From Cuba, another person confessed: "And I'm crying from Cuba because I don't have the guts to leave and not come back and be Catalina."
There were also testimonies from those who have been separated from their families for years. "Almost 10 years without hugging my mother and brother. Down with the Cuban dictatorship," wrote one user.
The interpretation even resonated with people from other countries affected by emigration. "We Venezuelans also feel that lyric," noted one user, while an Argentine highlighted that the song moved him despite not being Cuban.
The story arrives amidst the largest recorded exodus in Cuba in recent decades, which has separated hundreds of thousands of families both inside and outside the island.
Kevin had already caught attention on social media in January when he responded to a Russian influencer who showed an idealized image of Cuba, reminding her that "beauty does not erase repression, poverty, or hunger."
Now, in light of the enormous reception of his version of "La Catalina," the Cuban artist left open the possibility of turning it into a complete song.
"Shall we put music to the lyrics? Do you want the whole song?" he asked.
Thousands of users reacted positively to the proposal.
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