The Cubadisco 2023 International Music Industry Fair, a competition with awards in many categories plus performances, an international symposium, workshops and discussion forums, took place this May in Havana, with the slogan ‘isla que suena’ (the island that sounds). This year was dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the Centre for Research and Development of Cuban Music (CIDMUC), the 20th anniversary of Producciones Colibri record label, and the 10th anniversary of Cuban television channel dedicated to music “Canal Clave”.
Here are some of the many winners:
The album Ancestros Sinfónico, by the group Síntesis, Eme Alfonso and X Alfonso, won the Grand Prize announced at the final gala night. Last November Síntesis (‘synthesis’ in English) won a Latin Grammy ‘Best Folkloric album’ this album – the recent re-imagining of their monumental groudbreaking album ‘Ancestros’ (‘Ancestors’) from the late 1980s which fused Yoruba songs with rock and pop. [Read more about this album here]
Listen to the tracks on bandcamp here
Listen to the tracks in Spotify here
In the ‘Son and Country Tradition’ category, the album ‘Memorias‘, by Pancho Amat y su Cabildo del Son, was the winner. Released under EGREM’s label, the 11-track album won nominations also for the coveted prize in the categories of album notes and design.
Cuban musicologist Élsida González described Amat as one of the greatest all-time exponents of Cuban son. “He not only performs son with his tres guitar, but he is also an active researcher, constantly studying the origin and evolution of the music genre and sharing everything he knows and learns with his pupils, the younger generations of Cuban musicians.” The last track is entitled ‘Te esperaré’, as a tribute to Cuban doctors fighting Covid-19 on the island and abroad.
Listen to this Pancho Amat album on youtube here
The young jazz/contemporary pianist Rolando Luna won the ‘Instrumental’ section for ‘Mi Alma en Canciones’ (‘My soul in songs’) – an album produced by EGREM and featuring a selection of works by well-known Cuban composers crossing different genres such as trova, filin, and bossa nova. Listen to this album on youtube here
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas with the album ‘70 years with the power of rumba‘, won in the ‘Tradition and Ritual of Rumba’ section. This most famous rumba group in Cuba, an icon of Cuban culture, was formed on October 9, 1952, 70 years ago, under the name of Guaguancó Matancero, but they later changed their name to that of their popular song Los Munequitos de Matanzas. They have kept to the flag flying for rumba and its traditions, rooted in music brought by Africans to Cuba, now declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Listen to this album on youtube here
Meanwhile, ‘Batanga’, by El Nene and the Estrellas de Areíto Orchestra, won first place in ‘Varied Traditional’. Other winners were ‘Habana in the grand manner’, by Ernán López-Nussa, in the Jazz section.
‘The album ‘A veces, A voces’ (‘Sometimes with voices’), by Anaís Abreu, Ivette Cepeda, Yaima Sáez and Isis Flores, won the ‘Song’ section. Listen to a track from that album here:
Contemporary trova group Buena Fe won the ‘Contemporary Song’ section with their album ‘Morada‘. This was produced on EGREM label and it is their 10th album. Israel Rojas of Buena Fe explained how the title song came about: “The song “Morada” was born out of a longing, it was during the last concert of Pablo Milanés in Havana. There is a special song by Pablo and Silvio that moves me a lot: ‘Cuando te encontré’ [‘when I met you’]. It is a song that spoke of their country but not necessarily of it; you could find several interpretations. That for me was a challenge and I wanted to make a song like that. It is a theme that speaks about something in common, that shelters us, whether it is a house, a passion.”
Watch a video for the title song with lyrics on YouTube here
Listen to Morada by Buena Fe on Spotify here
The album ‘Hubert de Blanck: Un holandés errante. Vol 1. Chamber music’, performed by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and La Ceiba productions, won awards in three categories ‘Record notes’ (by Gabriela Rojas), ‘Chamber music’ and ‘Artistic mastery’. Born in Utrecht, Holland, De Blanck (1856-1932) arrived in Cuba at the age of 27, having studied at prestigious conservatories in Belgium and Germany, married a Cuban woman and became an important member of the musical community in Havana. He went on to be one of the founders of Cuba’s National Conservatory of Music in 1885 and is buried in Cuba. José Antonio Méndez Padrón, producer of the album, explained that the album is the result of a collaboration between important institutions of Cuban music such as the Museum of Music and the Esteban Salas Museum of Musical Heritage, which together with the Office of the Historian of Havana City and the Dutch Embassy in Cuba treasure the sound of the nation and other countries throughout history.
Liuba María Hevia, singer and composer, won awards in the categories ‘Music for children’ and ‘Concert for children’ with her album ‘Canciones como cuentos’, by Bis Music, whose video was made by José Manuel García Suárez.
‘Habana Concerto’, by José María Vitier, won the prize in the ‘Musicological Notes’ section written by Miriam Escudero, while Ricardo Monnar became the winner in ‘Graphic Design’ for ‘Como la alondra’, by Gretel Cazón and Producciones Abdala.
In the ‘Making-of’ film section, the award went to ‘Vocal Sampling sings its 30th birthday’ directed by Zenia Veigas.
Film director Gabriel Carrera won the actual ‘Musical Documentary‘ section with the film, ‘Sueños: El documental’ (‘Dreams: the documentary’), about the trajectory of the group Rumba Timba.
Diosdado Enier Ramos, known as Figurín, director of Rumba Timba, explained that the film talks about the commitment of the La Marina neighbourhood in Matanzas to the rumbera tradition, its sense of identity and especially the commitment to that legacy of the young people there and highlights the contributing role of Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, now celebrating its 70 years.
Watch the video of Sueños: El documental’ [23mins] here (no english subtitles) on youtube here
The award for ‘Concert Soloist’ went to Bárbara Llanes for her album ‘Harmony’, in collaboration with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and recorded by Bis Music, and the ‘Choral Music’ category was won by the Madrigalista Choir for the album ‘Identities’, which was produced by Rafael Guedes and produced by Producciones Colibrí.
This year’s CubaDisco gave special recognition to the album ‘Marcos Urbay in memoriam’, by the Caibarién Municipal Band; ‘Lecuona y más’, by Huberal Herrera, and ‘Concierto Homenaje 75 años’, by Efraín Amador.
Orestes Águila, sound engineer, won the Honorary Award and his work on the album ‘Saramago. Poemas à boca fechada’, by Lindiana Murphy and Rosa García was the winner in the ‘Studio recorded spoken word’ section.
Within the ‘Recorded as live’ section, the award was given to ‘Confidencia’, by Emilio Vega and Paso al Frente (listen and watch here on youtube), and recording engineer Daniel Legón Campo.
The Spanish singer and songwriter Rozalén, received the International Cubadisco Award for her album ‘Matriz’.
Cuba 50 
You must be logged in to post a comment.