CubaPLUS Magazine

This time dedicated to son, the 15th edition of Cubadisco, Cubarsquo;s international music industry fair, completed two unforgettable weeks in which traditional and modern trends joined in a party in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, where son was born as a musical genre.

It was the first time ever that this gathering of musicians, producers, specialists, and of course, fans, met to deliver awards to the best Cuban records of the year, did so outside of Havana.

Widely known for its treasury of great rhythms, Cuba has seen its presence in the international record market reduced since the big record companies closed their doors after the 1959 revolution due to the commercial and economic embargo established by the US government.

Since then the circulation of Cuban music records has been quite limited. Thankfully, the Cuban musical recording and publishing company (EGREM in Spanish), created in 1964, has guarded Cuban music jewels.

Although the aforementioned situation exists for Cuban records internationally, the production and creation of records in the island has been constant, with diversity in sounds characterizing the musical spectrum in the Caribbean nation.

Awards In this 2011 edition, the Grand Prize was won by Elito Revé y su Charangón with the recording ¿De qué estamos hablando? (What are we talking about?) from Bismusic productions. It also won the award for best popular dance music. Cuban musician José Aquiles was chosen Composer of the Year. Concierto tumbao by Emilio Morales and Colibrí Productions was one of the most awarded - winning in the Instrumental, First Record and Recording categories.

The best Compilation Award went to the 5 CD+DVD pack of 100 Cuban sons, from Jamp;N Record and Bismusic, by artist Edesio Alejandro performing with different bands. The Versions Anthology award went for Muy Exclusivo by Emilio Vega and Elsida González.

A special moment was the award delivered to singer Miriam Ramos and pianist Ernán López-Nussa in the Cancionistica (song repertoire) category for their Siempre en mi corazón, Ernesto Lecuona, a tribute performed by a group of musicians based on 12 songs of the Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona, who died in 1963. López-Nussa also won the award in the jazz category.

The Los Hoyos Conga from Santiago de Cuba, celebrating its centennial anniversary also received a fully deserved honours award for representing one of the most authentic examples of national culture passed from generation to generation. Having received the National Community Culture Award in 2002, the group received the honour award from Ciro Benemelis, president