CUBADISCO 2015

20 APRIL 2016

With Cubadisco 2016 approaching in less than a month, we wanted to reprise some items from 2015.

I.  You can download the official Cubadisco 2015 book of winners and nominees here. 

II.  In addition, we have prepared special pages with links to reviews and videos of many of these recordings:
1.  The CD nominees are here
2.  The DVD and video nominees are here
3.  The technical categories are here. 

9 August 2015


A new article about the Museo Nacional de la Música, one of Cuba's cultural treasures, is available here. 

2 August 2015

Scenes from Cubadisco 2015, Part III

Some of the activities for the International Symposium took place at Estudios Abdala.  A look at Estudios Abdala is now available here. 

Several Cubadisco winners gave concerts during the course of the event.  One of the best was the concert by Arturo O'Farrill and some of Cuba's best Jazz artists for the purpose of honoring the centennial of the birth of Chano Pozo.  A look at the concert is available here. 

26 July 2015

Scenes from Cubadisco 2015, Part II

One of the core functions of Cubadisco is the International Symposium, which runs for a week and includes a mix of historicall papers, technical presentations, demonstrations and very lively discussions about the future of Cuba's discographic industry.  Some scenes from the International Symposium are now available here. 

For participants from foreign countries (such as myself), there is a special reception at the Casa de la Amistad.  Entertainment is part of the reception, and one of the groups that performed, Frasis, won my musical heart.  A photo gallery from that reception and a video of Frasis in concert are available here. 

19 July 2015

Part I of Bill Tilford's Scenes from Cubadisco 2015 is now available here. 

1 JUNE 2015

OFFICIAL CUBADISCO 2015 AWARDS  BOOK AND MORE

Alexander Abreu receiving one of the Grand Prizes at Cubadisco 2015.

I have returned from La Habana,  and in the weeks to come I will be posting a large number of items related to Cubadisco 2015.   In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of brief observations:

Although Russia was the invited Country of Honor because that country played a crucial role in the modern classical music education system in Cuba since the 1960s, and some Russian artists were involved in Cubadisco performances this year, the United States was quite visible this year due to the performances by the Minnesota Orchestra and a delegation of more than 300 people.  As you will see in some items that I will share in the near future, the expanded presence of the United States in this event is already proving to be a mixed blessing there.  I encountered some almost-stereotypical predatory and ignorant North Americans along with some of our best and brightest.   I hope that we send enough good people in the future to outweigh the impressions that will be made by people in those latter categories. 

Cubadisco itself is in a transition of sorts - the Commercial Fair was smaller this year, and a public discussion of a new Cuban recording academy was already in progress when I arrived. This was an important topic both at the CIDMUC Symposium and in the Cuban press. The impact of this proposal on future Cubadisco events is not yet clear. Last year's daily publication during the event did not reappear this year - rather there will be a much larger Final Edition in a few months. However, other press from both Cuba and other countries (including the US) was far more visible, and that should be considered a positive development. The music, naturally, was wonderful again, and I will be publishing reviews of several recordings in the weeks to come.  

While I am sorting through numerous photos and files, you can download the official awards book here (thanks again to Lourdes Martínez of the Publications Department of Cubadisco for sharing the official Awards Book with us and granting permission to share it with you). 

You can download the program for the 2015 Cubadisco International Symposium here. 

9 MAY 2015

OFFICIAL CUBADISCO 2015 NOMINEES BOOK

Many thanks  to Ms.  Lourdes Martínez and the Publications Department of Cubadisco for sharing the official Nominees Book of Cubadisco 2015 with us  and for granting us permission to share it with you.  You can download the official book here.  

8 MAY 2015

MEZCLA'S  30TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT MAY 9

2 MAY 2015

CUBADISCO 2015 NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

At a special Gala at the Cabaret Tropicana in Havana Cuba on April 30, the nominees for Cubadisco 2015 were announced.   Several special awards (including the international prizes) are always announced later in the process, but this list contains the general categories and some of the special prizes.  

As a special extra, we have added some video links when they are available in order to help introduce you to some of these artists. Many North Americans who are unfamiliar with the range of music that is being recorded in Cuba will be surprised at the scope, and we strongly encourage you to share this page with anyone who still has a stereotypical view of music in Cuba.   We did not include links that looked like they might be "pirate" links, but in some instances where video related to the recording was unavailable, we did include another recent video  by an artist that is illustrative of their style but not part of the nominated album along with the occasional interview clip and other surprises.      

Over time, we will also be adding reviews of many of these recordings.  A link is included to those which are already published.  This is a work in progress and will be updated in the future. 

A special note regarding the album covers and video links:  If it appears that Bis Music has many more links and photos than the other labels, this is because Bis currently has a much more robust presence on the web than EGREM or Colibrí, and it is much easier to find information from Bis on the Internet at the moment.   This is not a reflection of the relative quality of the music among the labels.. 

CATEGORY	ARTIST(S)	TITLE	LABEL	REV?	VIDEO?
COMPILATION
	Luis Carbonell	Un juglar antillano	Bis Music
	Celeste Mendoza	La reina del guaguancó	EGREM		CLICK HERE, but not part of  album
	Amaury Pérez	Gratitudes	Sello Unicornio
	Various Artists	Motivos martianos	EGREM
	Various Artists	Trinidad: Historias de un mundo aparte	Bis Music		CLICK HERE (trailer)
TRADITIONAL SON
	Pancho Amat	Herencias	Bis Music		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
	Maria Victoria Rodríguez	Entre dos aguas	Bis Music		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
	Septeto Santiaguero & El Canario	No Quiero Llanto, Tributo a Los Compadres	EGREM	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
	Son del Nene	Siguiendo mis tradiciones	Prod. Colibrí
	Soneros de Camacho	Se acabó el mundo	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
MUSICA AFROCUBANA
	Team Cuba de la Rumba	La rumba no es como ayer	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Lázaro Ros y Mezcla	Cantos	Indep.
	Team Cuba de la Rumba	La solución	EGREM
	Rumbávila	Defendiendo mis raíces	Sello Unicornio / CMP Ciego de Avila		CLICK HERE
MISCELLANEOUS TRADITIONAL
	Orquesta Chepín Choven	Llegó el Chepín Son	EGREM
	Guillermo Rubalcaba	Como en el ayer	Prod.Colibrí
	Orquesta América	70 Américas	Prod. Colibrí
	Pachito Alonso	De Machin a Pacho	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
	Alabao	Te llevaré	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
CHAMBER MUSIC
	Various artists	Mitología de las aguas.  Obras del maestro Leo Brouwer	Prod. Colibrí / Espiral Eterna
	Darío Martin y Fadev Sanjudo	Netzaj	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
	Yalil Guerra, Ensemble Solistas de la Habana, Iván Valiente	Works for String Orchestra	R.Y.C.Y. Prod.		CLICK HERE
CONCERT MUSIC
	César López y Orquesta del ISA	Entre Cuerdas	Prod. Colibrí
	Various Artists	Edgardo. Obras de Edgardo Martín	Prod. Colibrí
CHORAL MUSIC
	Digna Guerra y Coro Entrevoces	Oh, Yes!	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent, but not part of album)
CONCERT SOLOIST
	Joaquin Clerch	Etudes	Prod. Colibrí
	Liana Fernandez	Intermezzo al sur	Prod. Colibrí
	Rosario Franco	Rosario Franco	Prod. Colibrí
VOCAL & VOCAL/ INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
	Novel Voz	Tratando de Llegar	Indep.		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
	Ars Longa	Bolero Vs. Fandango	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
CUBAN JAZZ
	Ernán López-Nussa	Invención Lekszycki	Prod. Colibrí
	Iván "Melón" Lewis	Ayer y hoy	Acezame		CLICK HERE
	Ruy López-Nussa	La Academia	Prod. Colibrí	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
	Various Artists	Lecuona JoJazz	Prod. Colibrí
	Yosvany Terry	New Throned King	Pasion		CLICK HERE
JAZZ
	Estado de ánimo	Estado de ánimo	Prod. Colibrí
	Gabriel Hernández	Mr. Many Moons	Indep.
	Héctor Quintana	Dactilar	Prod. Colibrí
	Ruly Herrera	Mal tiempo	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
	Maikel Visel, Reinier Elizarde, Juanma Barroso	Trio on	Big Music		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
	Chuchito Valdés y Eddy Navia	Carnaval en piano charango	Indep.	CLICK HERE
	Guillermo Rubalcalba	Como en el ayer	Prod. Colibrí
	Alejandro Falcón	Cuba now danzón	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
	Eliel Lazo & The Cuban Funk Machine	Eliel Lazo & The Cuban Funk Machine	Stunt Records	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
	Pacho Amat y Daniel Amat	Haciendo son en otro jazz	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
SOUNDTRACK
	Raúl Paz	La otra esquina	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Various artists	Irremediablemente juntos	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
TRADITIONAL TROVA
	Santiago Feliú	Senderos	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
	Trio Palabras	De Corona a la Trovuntivitis	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
	Dúo Voces del Caney	Viente canciones de Sindo Garay	Prod. Colibrí
	Xiomara Laugart	Tears and rumba	Chesky Records		CLICK HERE
	Miriam Ramos y Harold López-Nussa	Intemporal	Prod. Colibrí
NUEVA TROVA
	Augusto Blanca	Poblinas Vol I y Vol II	Prod. Colibrí
	Benito de la Fuente	Fe de vida	Prod. Colibrí
	Leonardo García	Detrás del tilo	Prod. Colibrí
	Virulo	El bueno, el malo, el cubano	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Yoan Zamora	Globalización	Centro Pablo		CLICK HERE
TROVA-POP-ROCK
	Adrián Berazaín	Si te hago canción	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Polito Ibañez	De las manos y los pies	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Vanito Brown	Norte, sur, este y aquel	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Mauricio Figueiral	Flores de tequila	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
CANCIONÍSTICA
	Amaury Pérez	Canciones a Peti Vol. I y Vol. II	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
	Haydée Milanés	Palabras	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Rosita Fornés	ConVivencias, Duetos	EGREM		CLICK HERE (May not be part of album)
	Omara Portuondo	Magia Negra	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
	Alexander Díaz	Conversando con la luna	EGREM		CLICK HERE
CHILDREN'S MUSIC
	Lidis Lamorú	La magia de los sueños	Bis Music
	Miriela Mijares	Cantar y decirte quiero	Prod. Colibrí
	Omara Portuondo	Acuarela	Bis Music
	Various Artists	Ortodecimante	Bis Music
	Various Artists	Rimando con mis derechos	Sello Unicornio / UNICEF
FUSIÓN
	Guantánamo Free	Como el elefante	Indep.		CLICK HERE
	Kamankola	Antes que lo prohiban	Tuyuca		CLICK HERE
	Luis Barbería feat. Sexto Sentido	A Full	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Qva Libre	La sicodélica estelar	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Raúl Paz	La otra esquina	EGREM		CLICK HERE
ROCK
	Avanz	Crazy for you	Indep.
	Blinder	Hegemonic Cult	Rhombifer Music		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
	Médula	La reencarnación	ALPIS		CLICK HERE
	The Shepal	Inalcanzables	Agencía Cubana de Rock		CLICK HERE
	Zeus	La verdad prohibida	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (recent but not part of album)
POP
	Dayana	Ida y vuelta	Ahí Namá
	Diana Fuentes	Planeta Planetario	EGREM
	Jessee Suárez	Ése soy yo	Ahí Namá		CLICK HERE
	Lindiana y Mantra	Terras	Letras & Sons
	Patricio Amaro	Más de lo que tú me das	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
POPULAR DANCE MUSIC (NEW RELEASES)
	Alaín Pérez	Hablando con Juana	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	El Niño y la Verdad	Llego La Verdad	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	JG	Que no me controlen	Ahí Namá		CLICK HERE
	Laritza Bacallao	Sólo se vive una vez	Planet Records		CLICK HERE
	Alaín Daniel	Trayecto	Ahí Namá		CLICK HERE
POPULAR DANCE MUSIC
	Elito Revé y su Charangón	La aplanadora de Cuba	Bis Music	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
	José Luis Cortés y NG La Banda	En la calle una vez más	Bis Music	CLICK HERE
	David Álvarez y Juego de Manos	Somos Cuba	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Aymée Nuviola	First class to Havana	Worldwide
	Alexander Abreu y Havana d'Primera	La vuelta al mundo	Sello Unicornio		CLICK HERE
RAP-HIP HOP
	La Cruzada Estudio	Pedazo de cielo	Bis Music
	Negrons	Qué onda	Agencia Rap
	Ondalivre	A deguello	Asere Prod. / 18A16 Prod.		CLICK HERE
REGGAETON
	Marvy Freddy y Kayanco	Fama y Money	Indep.
	Marvy Freddy y Kayanco	Comercializando	Indep.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
	Carlos y Rafael	Yongolailan	LNME
	Dj. Ra & Dnix	Amaneciendo	LNME		CLICK HERE
	JVG	Música para soñar	Indep.
	Makk	Frecuencia	Indep.
	Rezak	Session Ocha Niwe	Indep.
NEW ARTIST
	Héctor Quintana	Dactilar	Prod. Colibrí
	Ruly Herrera	Mal tiempo	Prod. Colibrí
	Liana Fernández	Intermezzo al sur	Prod. Colibrí
	El Niño y La Verdad	Llegó la verdad	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Laritza Bacallao	Solo se vive una vez	Planet Records		CLICK HERE
DVD PERFORMANCE FOR CHILDREN (FILMMAKERS)
	Marcel Beltrán	Canción para estar contigo / Bárbara Llanes y Teatro de las Estaciones	Prod. Colibrí
	Alberto José Paredes	Casichiflados / Payaso Jarol	EGREM
	Luis Najmías Jr.	La magia de los sueños / Lidis Lamorú	Bis Music
DVD PERFORMANCE (FILMMAKERS)
	Claudio Pairot	El nuevo mundo  / David Blanco	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Maykel Blanco	Cerrando filas / Maykel Blanco	Bis Music		CLICK HERE (trailer)
	René Arencibia	Eliades Ochoa desde el Gran Teatro de la Habana	EGREM
	Enrique Carballea / Luuis Najmías Jr.	Mi primer concierto  / Descemer Bueno	Bis Music
	Ernesto Eduardo Dobarganes / Diana Marta Utrela	Habana Abierta Live/Habana Abierta	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE (film trailer)
AUDIOVISUAL CONCERT (FILMMAKERS)
	Rolando Almirante	La familia /López  - Nussa	Prod. Colibri
	Lester Hamlet	Dúo / Harold López-Nussa y Ernesto Vega	Prod. Colibri
	Alejandro Ramírez	Concierto homenaje a César Portlllo de la Luz	Prod. Colibrí
	Rolando Almirante	La leyenda de Arsenio	EGREM		CLICK HERE (film trailer)
MAKING OF
	René Arencibia	Cuba now danzón  / Alejandro Falcón	Prod. Colibrí
	Ángel Alderete	Intemporal  / Miriam Ramos y Harold López Nussa	Prod. Colibrí
	Alejandro Reyes	Mal tiempo  / Ruly Herrera	Prod. Colibrí
	Giselle E. Delgado	A Full /Luis A. Barbería feat. Sexto Sentido	EGREM
	Ileana Rodríguez	Magia negra / Omara Portuondo	Prod. Colibrí
DIDACTIC DVD (FILMMAKERS)
	José Manuel García / Pancho Amat	Mis caminos del tres / Pancho Amat	Bis Music
	Roly Arena / ElevaStudio	Máster Class: La trompeta / Varios intérpretes	Prod. Colibrí
	Roly Arena / ElevaStudio	La improvisación / Varios intérpretes	Prod. Colibrí
	Sonia Pérez Cassola / Ernesto García	Ortodecimante / Varios intérpretes	Bis Music
	René Arencibia	Rimando con mis derechos / Varios intérpretes	Sello Unicornio / Unicef
MULTIMEDIA (FILMMAKERS)
	Liliana Casanella, Elisa Álvarez, Armando Herrera	75 años / Orquesta Aragón	EGREM
	Katia Hernández y Enrique Smith	Obra de Edgardo Martín / Varios	Prod. Colibri
MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY
	Marcel Beltrán	Digna Guerra	Prod. Colibrí
	Luis Najmías Jr. / Ruy López-Nussa	Estado de Ánimo	Prod. Colibrí
	José Manuel García / Eddy Cardosa	Un juglar antillano   /  Luis Carbonell	Bis Music
	Lester Hamlet	Omara: Cuba	Prod. Colibrí
	Mayra María García/Guillermo Amores	La rumba no es como ayer / Team Cuba de la Rumba	Bis Music
VIDEO CLIP (FILMMAKERS)
	Omar Leyva / Adrián Berazaín	Oshún /  Adrián Berazaín	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Joseph Ros	Hablando con Juana /  Alain Pérez	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Fernando  Pérez	Canción fácil    / Haydée Milanés	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	José Rojas	Cuando tú dices que me amas   / Qva libre	Bis Music		CLICK HERE
	Alejandro Valera	La moda  / Van Van	EGREM	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
LINER NOTES (WRITER)
	Tony Pinelli	Cuba now danzón / Alejandro Falcón	Prod. Colibrí		CLICK HERE
	Jorge Gómez	70 Américas / Orquesta América	Prod. Colibrí
	Lázaro Garcia	Cantar y decir te quiero / Miriela Mijares	Prod. Colibrí
	Leonardo Padura	Palabras / Haydeé Milanés	Bis Music
	Maria Elena Mendiola	La academia / Ruy López Nussa	Prod. Colibrí	CLICK HERE
	Marta Valdés	Intermezzo al Sur /  Liana Fernández	Prod. Colibrí
MUSICOLOGICAL NOTES (WRITER)
	Olavo  Alen	Haciendo Son en otro Jazz /Pancho Amat y Daniel Amat	Prod. Colibrí
	Jesús Gómez Cairo	Senderos / Santiago Feliú	Prod. Colibrí
	Miriam Escudero	Oh, yes! / Digna Guerra y coro Entrevoces	Prod. Colibrí
	Carole Fernández	Boleros Vs Fandango / Ars Longa	Prod. Colibrí
	Laida Ferrando	Siguiendo mis tradiciones / Son del Nene	Prod. Colibrí
DESIGN (GRAPHIC ARTIST)
	Katia Hernández y Enrique Smith	Poblinas /Augusto Blanca	Prod. Colibrí
	Adrián Berazain y Alejandro Cervantes	Si te hago canción / Adrián Berazaín	Bis Music
	Mauricio Vega	Pedazo de cielo / La cruzada	La Cruzada Estudio
	Edel Rodríguez “Mola”	Mi primer concierto / Descemer Bueno	Bis Music
	Alexis Bousquet	Planeta Planetario / Diana Fuentes	EGREM
	Katia Hernández y Enrique Smith	Senderos / Santiago Feliú	Prod. Colibrí
RECORDING (ENGINEERS)
	Maykel  Bárzagas	Cuba now danzón / Alejandro Falcón	Prod. Colibrí
	Orestes Aguila	Invención Lekszycki  /Ernán  López Nussa	Prod. Colibrí
	Javier Monteverde	Ayer y hoy / Iván “Melón” Lewis	Acezame		CLICK HERE
	Iván Gutierrez / Frank Rodriguez	Planeta planetario  /  Diana Fuentes	EGREM
	Oreste Aguila	Llego la verdad   /  El niño y la verdad	EGREM		CLICK HERE
	Jorge Benítez / Guillermo del Toro	La vuelta al mundo /  Alexander Abreu	Sello Unicornio		CLICK HERE
LIVE RECORDING   (ENGINEERS)
	Olimpia Calderón  Y Enzo Estrada	Mitología de las aguas  / Obras Mtro. Leo Brouwer	Prod. Colibrí
	Luis Durán	El nuevo mundo / David Blanco	Bis Music
	Maykel Bárzagas / Maykel Bárzagas Jr.	Mi primer Concierto /Descemer Bueno	Bis Music
	Orestes Aguila	Dúo / Harold López Nussa y Ernesto Vega	Prod. Colibrí
SPECIAL PRIZES (ARTISTS)
	Various Artists	Eterno Formell	Bis Music
	Los Van Van	La Fantasía. Homenaje a Juan Formell y los Van Van	EGREM	CLICK HERE	CLICK HERE
	Various Artists	Indefinidas confesiones. Poemas de Antonio Guerrero	Bis Music
	Various Artists	Sara	Prod. Colibrí
	Guillermo Rodríguez Rivera/various artists	Con olor a manigua	Prod. Colibrí
	Jesus Ortega	Fanfarria de Primavera.  Obras Electroacústicas de Jesús Ortega	Prod. Colibrí
	Pablo Milanés y José Maríá Vitier	Canción de Otoño. Pablo Milanés interpreta canciones de José Maríá Vitier	Bis Music		CLICK HERE