9 More Artists to Join Juanes in Cuba

Nine new artists have been confirmed for Colombian rock star Juanes' Paz Sin Fronteras concert in Havana Sept. 20.

The new line-up, announced Thursday, brings the total number of acts performing in Havana's Plaza de la Revolución to 15 acts from six countries.

Among the additional performers are Puerto Rican salsa singer Danny Rivera; rap trio Orishas, who are Cuban but live in Europe; CuCu Diamantes and Yerba Buena, whose members hail from Cuba, the United States and other countries but who live in New York, and Spanish artists Luis Eduardo Aute and Victor Manuel.

Cuban rock artists Carlos Varela and X Alfonso will also join countrymen Silvio Rodríguez, Los Van Van, Spanish pop star Miguel Bosé, Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañon and Juanes, who has a home in Key Biscayne.

Concert organizers said the artists have agreed not to make any political statements, and that there will be no presenters or speakers on stage, only music performers.

Juanes has said that he intends the concert to be a musical -- not a political -- event that he hopes will lessen the tension between Cuba, the exile community and the United States. Some exiles have criticized Juanes, saying that the event is political by nature and should address human rights and other issues in Cuba. Other exiles and Cuban dissidents have supported the show, including a group of political prisoners on the island.

The show, which will be staged in the same spot on the plaza where Pope John Paul II celebrated his historic Mass in 1998, will last from 2 to 6 p.m. and is expected to draw more than half a million people. Concert production costs are being covered by the Cuban Institute of Music and some of the participating artists.

None of the musicians are being paid for the show, the statement said. Organizers say the concert will be streamed via satellite through Cuban television and can be broadcast by any television channel, website or radio station that requests it.