CUBADISCO 2023
(Coverage:  Bill Tilford, email: tilfordproductions@gmail.com)

CUBADISCO 2023: A BRIEF RETROSPECTIVE 

Cubadisco 2023 took place from May 7-13, 2013 in La Habana, Cuba.  Sadly, this writer was unable to physically attend this year, but fortunately, Cuba has placed more material than ever on line to help us appreciate the event, Cuba's most important award ceremony for recordings, from afar. 
During the initial presentation of the nominees in April, Cubadisco's committee announded that 180 works had been presented to 32 categories, with 124 resulting nominations as follows:
EGREM - 19
Producciones Colibri - 31
Bis Music - 50
Producciones Abdala - 15
Others - 9
180 works represents a significant improvement from production during the pandemic but has still not quite returned to the pre-pandemic peaks of more than 200.  Not counting the several  special prizes always awarded outside of the nominations process, the winners were distributed as follows:
EGREM - 5
Producciones Colibri - 5
Bis Music - 13
Producciones Abdala - 1
Others - 8 
Of note, the Grand Prize winner, Ancestros Sinfónico by Síntesis, was a coproduction of FAC Music (the Fabrica del Arte Cubano's relatively new record label) and El Cerrito Records in the US, the first time in my recollection that a production from outside the group of established Cuban record companies has been awarded the Grand Prize.  

The awards were announced at two separate galas at the beginning and end of Cubadisco, and this year Cubadisco Publications produced consolidated program booklets with the nominees, winners and schedules both of the International Simposium and the different concerts all in one (well, actually two) documents, shared here with special thanks to Lourdes Martínez of Cubadisco Publications:
Official Booklet, Gala 1
Official Booklet, Gala 2 
For the sake of easy readability, we are including a simple .pdf listing without graphics of the nominees:
Cubadisco Nominees PDF 
Although the results have yet to be announced at publication time, the second gala featured an audience vote (including online) for a Premio del Público.  We will share the winner when that information becomes available. 

This year, CIDMUC (The Center For the Investigation and Development of Cuban Music) has published a cornucopia of musicological resources related to Cubadisco and this year's recordings.  Those can be accessed as follows:
Articles available in La Jiribilla 
Additional resources related to Simposio Cubadisco 2023


Primera Linea, an event dedicated to the business aspects of the music business, has also returned albeit in smaller form than its original incarnation.  One hopes that it might grow again in future years. 

Last but not least, several hours of videos from Cubadisco 2023 are available on the CREART YouTube Channel.  To whet your appetite, we are sharing a link to  the inaugural gala here, but there are many more, so do visit the channel.
Inaugural Gala Cubadisco 2023
Over the past decade, Cuba has made great strides in publicizing Cubadisco and making its results available for those of us who are unable to physically attend.  This writer hopes to return in person in 2024 but in the meantime is enjoying it vicariously through the articles and videos. 

Cubadisco 2023 will take place from May 7-13, 2023.  The following is an English translation by Bill Tilford of the official call for entries.  

PREMIOS CUBADISCO 2023 🏆

Call for entries‼️

The Instituto Cubano de la Música & The Comité Académico Cubadisco convenes

Cubadisco Awards 2023.

📝 Basis 

👉 Phonographic or audiovisual musical productions edited by Cuban record companies, by Cuban and foreign institutions related to the musical work of our country, and independent phonographic or audiovisual musical productions may participate, provided they are endorsed by an institution linked to our cultural field. Independent is understood as a work that has been produced without the sponsorship of any record company or institution linked to our cultural environment.

👉 The registered productions must have been edited between January 1 and December 31, 2022. Exceptions may apply to any production that, having been made in previous years (never before 2016), could not have been previously edited, and It has not been submitted in whole or in part to any previous edition of this event.

👉 The Cubadisco Awards will consider the quality of the productions that are submitted to the contest, and not the work, trajectory or relevance within national music and culture, nor any other of the virtues of the artists whose works are contained in such productions, including their popularity and the sales levels of the productions presented.

The deadline for the registration of the works will expire on January 31, 2023‼️

👉 The registration of the works in the contest will take place on the dates agreed by the Award Committee and the Executive Group, at the offices of the Cubadisco Award: Calle E no. 356, between 15 and 17, Vedado, Revolution Square, Havana, Cuba. PC 10400.

Telephone: (537) 837 5722. Email: cubadisco@icm.cu and cubadisco.cac@gmail.com

👉 The works and all the necessary information will be entered into the Cubadisco Computer Platform in which the voting process of the voting members for nominations and awards will take place through the voting pages of the Computer Platform.

👉 The works and all the necessary information will be entered into the Cubadisco Computer Platform in which the voting process of the voting members for nominations and awards will take place through the voting pages of the Computer Platform.

👉 For the purposes of your registration, the work must be delivered in digital format (.mp3 in the case of music, .mp4 in the case of audiovisuals, .jpg for graphic design and photography and .pdf for text files.), with all the necessary data that complements the production: designs, record notes, couplings, fundamental credits, etc. Everything will have to be accompanied by the official digital template designed for this purpose. This cannot be replaced by any other type of information.

👉 The institutions that present works to the contest will be responsible for the registration of their productions before the contest and before the artists they represent. Once registered, the works may not be withdrawn from the contest under any circumstances.

👉 The representatives of the record companies and institutions that register the works will propose in the registration forms the area or categories in which each production can compete. Together with them, the Consultative Group of the Prize Committee will definitively place the works in the corresponding areas and categories. This result and the works in competition will be published, and will be sent to those involved in the award process hrough the digital platform and/or direct physical delivery.

👉 Once this categorization phase has been completed, the nomination and award decision processes will be carried out by the academics in charge of voting in each area and category, and verified by the Consultative Group in the established schedules.

👉 The results of the nomination will be publicly released at a press conference called only for that purpose in the first week of April. The award ceremony will take place in a ceremony organized for this purpose within the calendar of the Cubadisco 2023 International Fair, which will be held between May 7 and 13.

👉 The institution that registers the production in the contest must certify the editorial rights they have on each work, so that:
In the case in which the work is awarded, it can issue the release of a selected theme for the purposes of publishing a compilation album with the award-winning records just finished the Awards delivery process,in the case of audiovisual works, it is clear which works may be used in the multiplicity of television media that accompany the event at the national level, and their presence on the digital platforms that the event has for its promotion and propaganda.

👉 A prize will be awarded in each category that will be indivisible.

👉 The Awards Committee together with the Advisory Group will be in charge of selecting and delivering the Special Awards.

👉 When the opinion of an actor involved in the production or execution of works in competition publicly questions the honesty of the event and/or threatens the dignity and morals of any person.

👉 Registration for the contest implies acceptance of its bases.

👉 The nominations and prizes awarded will be unappealable.

👉 The areas with examples of categories of this call for the Cubadisco Award 2023 are attached below.

🔹️ AREA 1. -PATRIMONIAL.

Eg, Categories; Archival, Traditional Sonera and Campesina, Rumba, Ritual Folk Music, Traditional Varied.

🔹️ AREA 2. - ACADEMIC.

Eg, Categories; Chamber Music, Concert Soloist, Symphonic Music, Choral Music, Academic Vocal-Instrumental.

🔹️ AREA 3. - JAZZ / INSTRUMENTAL.

Eg, Categories; Traditional Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Neo Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz, Rock Jazz, Instrumental Music, Instrumental Soundtrack.

🔹️ AREA 4. - SONG.

Eg, Categories; Song, Contemporary Song, Trova, Nueva Trova, Song for children, Vocal Soundtrack.

🔹️ AREA 5. - CURRENT DANCE MUSIC.

Eg, Categories; Danceable music-new projects, danceable music.

🔹️ AREA 6. - FUSION.

Eg, Categories; Alternative, Pop, Pop/Rock, Rock, Electronic/Electroacoustic.

🔹️ AREA 7. - URBAN MUSIC.

Eg, Categories; Hip-Hop, Reggaeton.

🔹️ AREA 8. - AUDIOVISUAL.

Eg, Categories; Studio concert, Live concert, For children, Musical Documentary/Documentary Series, Making Of.

🔹️ AREA 9. - GENERALS.

Eg, Categories; Best New Artist (Opera Prima), Sound Design, Graphic Design, Record Notes, Music Notes, Anthology and covers. (for a work to be nominated in Sound Design it is not necessary for it to  be nominated in its regular category).

🔹️ AREA 10. - SINGLES.

This area includes those single songs, only in audio, that have or can have a life of their own in Cuban music promotion (radio, television, social networks, digital platforms, live stage), their value in disseminating the concept they represent and/or its audience reach being undeniable. These singles may or may not belong to record productions registered in the contest, and in the case of belonging to the coupling of a production, only two singles per production will be accepted.

🔹️ INTERNATIONAL PRIZE.

It will be awarded to phonograms by foreign authors and performers that creatively reflect the most authentic musical values and contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity, in correspondence with the aesthetic assumptions advocated by Cubadisco. The proposals for this award will be made by Cuban and foreign artists and experts linked to the recording industry of our country and the history of this contest.

🔹️ COLLATERAL AWARDS.

The Cubadisco International Fair offers its space so that various institutions not directly linked to it, but related to the Cuban cultural, communication and social organization systems, can award their own prizes to the nominated works, always with the appropriate foundation and approval. of the Organizing Committee.

🔹️ PUBLIC (POPULAR) PRIZE.

The Cubadisco 2023 Prize Committee will guarantee the access of the general public to all the works in competition and will establish the forms of popular voting so that they can propose the phonograms of their choice as candidates for the Public Prize.

This award will also be announced at the ceremony organized for this purpose within the calendar of the Cubadisco 2023 International Fair, which will be held between May 7 and 13.

📝Note: Once the process of receiving and admitting the works is completed, the Award Committee, together with the Executive Group (record companies and institutions that support works in competition), will finish adjusting the categorization, taking into account the amount and characteristics of the productions submitted to the contest.

#EventoCubadisco #CubaEsMúsica #CubaEsCultura