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EGREM Reaches 60
BY RAFAEL LAM—Special
for Granma International—
THE
Music Recording and Publishing Company’s (EGREM)’s
San Miguel studio is celebrating its 60th
anniversary. EGREM, born from the old PANART (now
Areito), has gained fame for its recordings of
glorious musicians throughout those years.
Innumerable stars have recorded at the EGREM: Carlos
Alas del Castillo (the first), Cascarita,
Puntillita, Fantasmita, Nelo Sosa, Roberto Faz,
Guillermo Portables, the Rigual brothers, La Sonora
Matancera, El Casino, Julio Cueva, Los Hermanos
Castro, Los Grenet, Senén Suárez, La Gloria
Matancera, América, Luis Santí, Los Guaracheros de
Oriente, Armando Romeu, Bebo Valdés, and Riverside
with Chico O’Farrill.
EGREM has also recorded international artists such
as Nat King Cole, Daniel Santos, Alberto Beltrán,
Lucho Evaristo, Ernesto Bonino, and Lucho Gatica.
Musician and engineer Ramón Sabat conceived the
construction of the famous San Miguel studio, built
in 1944 on 401, San Miguel Street. Sabat shipped the
enormous recording equipment from the United
States—where he studied—in the midst of World War
II. He also produced a disc-making factory and the
name PANART was taken from Pan American Art, as
researcher Cristóbal Díaz Ayala tells us.
Those were the famous days of the “New Rhythm”
danzón and Mambo (Arcano and Pérez Prado), as
well as the in radio and art deco jukeboxes, playing
78 rpm black discs. In 1949, the arrival of 33- and
45-rpm equipment started a revolution of high
quality recording which dramatically increased
sales. Cuba signed contracts with several Latin
American labels: Muzart from Mexico, Nardo from
Puerto Rico, Turpial from Venezuela, Sono Radio from
Panama, and even Capitol from New York and EMI from
Britain.
The
Pérez Prado mambo boom and the cha-cha-cha of
Enrique Jorrín with the Orquesta América were the
signature of the 50’s. Jorrín always used to say
that PANART had bought a record factory with
cha-cha-cha alone.
With
all these popular rhythms, groups, and singers, some
Cuban artists became internationally famous. A few
examples are: Benny Moré, Rolando Laserie, Orlando
Vallejo, Fernando Alvarez, Miguelito Cuní, Abelardo
Barroso, Orlando Contreras, Membiela, Blanca Rosa
Gil, Laíto, Fernando Albuerne, Rolo Martínez, Tata
Ramos, Tito Gómez, Celeste Mendoza, Bárbaro Diez,
and Lino Borges. Cuban bands likewise gained
worldwide fame. Some of these bands were: Aragón,
Sensación, Melodías del 40, Arcaño y sus Maravillas,
Fajardo y sus Estrellas, Neno González, and Sublime.
The popularity spread to groups as well, including:
Chapottín y sus Estrellas, Chocolate, Modelo,
Casino, La Sonora Matancera, and the following jazz
bands: Hermanos Castro, Cosmopolita, Riverside,
Armando Romeu, Ernesto Duarte, and Bebo Valdés.
According to researcher José Reyes Fortín, in his
special pamphlet on the history of EGREM, PANART
reached its peak in 1952, at a point when the studio
had access to better record players with sapphire
needles and LP (Long Play) technology. After 1957,
the studio started utilizing HI-FI (High Fidelity)
technology to record stars like: Rita Montaner, Bola
de Nieve, Los Chavales de España, Juan Legido,
Rosita Fornés, Los Compadres with Compay Segundo and
Lorenzo Hiarrezuelo, Los Papines, and Miguelito
Valdés, who used to play at famous cabarets such as
Tropicana, Sans Soucí, Montmartre, and the Ali Bar.
During this period, production skyrocketed to the
million-copy range.
After 1959, a new era of social change began. In
1962, the Sierra Maestra label was born from the
National Record Publishers, directed by Gerardo
Piloto. Then the National Cultural Council, with Leo
Brouwer as one of its officials, intervened and the
Music Recording and Publishing Company (EGREM) was
created on March 28, 1964. a new generation of
artists recorded their works at EGREM, including:
Carlos Puebla, Beatriz Márquez, Gina León, Portillo
Scull, Los Zafiros, Los Meme, Los Van Van, Irakere,
Revé, Ritmo Oriental, La Monumental, Los Reyes 73,
Adalberto Alvarez, La Charanga Habanera, and Dan
Den.
Towards the end of the 80’s, José Luis Cortés begun
to work on a series of experimental music at the
EGREM. Two records, Nueva Generación and Todos
Estrellas, appeared as a result of his project. In
1989, NG La Banda, born from Cortés’ project, gave
the kick start to the boom in Cuban salsa which gave
life to a new generation of musicians such as: Isaac
Delgado, Paulo FG, Manolito Simonet, Yumurí,
Maracas, Bamboleo, and an entire cohort of salsa
players, some already named.
In
1996, the San Miguel 410 studio recorded legendary
Juan de Marcos González accompanied by the
Afro-Cuban All Stars band, launching three records:
Introducing Rubén González, A toda
Cuba le gusta and Buena Vista Social Club.
This last CD won the 1997 Grammy in the Traditional
Music category, and re-launched celebrities such as
Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, and
many others who already had a history to tell.
The
San Miguel studio is now a myth. It has become
famous worldwide because of its role in reviving
traditional rhythms and its connections with
glorious moments in Cuba’s music’s history of the
20th century. San Miguel is a true sanctuary for the
recording industry, a national and international
patrimony of music. Perhaps, some day, a plaque
should be put up, bearing the names of the glorious
artists who recorded their music at this studio.
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