David D’Omni
Lyricist, Painter, Performer
Cuba
David Escalona Carrillo, also known as David D’Omni, was born in Havana and grew up in Alamar where hip-hop, rap, and rock scenes flourished among the sprawling Soviet-style housing blocks, forming a new generation of underground and independent artists.
When David was in high school, Cuban artists, including many from Alamar, formed the multidisciplinary collective Omni-ZonaFranca. In 2000, David dropped out of school, formally joining the collective. “My artistic development occurred as part of the socio-cultural and multidisciplinary project, ‘Omni-Zonafranca,’” David told ARC. The collective hosted poetry festivals and performances that combined traditional forms of art with avant-garde creations. As a musician, David was influenced by poetry and genres like rock, reggae, hip hop, and electronic music.
David began to face threats in 2009 when the Cuban government declared Omni-Zonafranca “an enemy of the revolution.” Other cultural projects he has founded or collaborated with have also been blacklisted by the government including Primer Festival de Rap Cubano, Poesía Sin Fin, Estado de Sats, Rotilla, and more. David was arrested arbitrarily, received death threats, and experienced constant police surveillance. He entered exile when repression against him spread to his wife, son, parents, neighbors, and friends.
Now in the United States in Miami, David is able to create art freely. As a recipient of ARC and PEN International’s Cuban Migrant Artists Resilience Fellowship, David worked on “La Patria Contempla,” an 11-track album featuring a diverse coalition of socially engaged Cuban voices. The project brought together the voices of dissident artists who both remain on the island and are in exile, bridging the two communities together in an act of artistic resilience.
The album, spanning topics like attacks on the independent creative movement and other sociopolitical issues, highlights D’Omni’s sustained efforts to raise awareness of the dire situation in Cuba and call for solidarity and hope in the face of dread and despair.