Lester Hamlet Will Direct Gala for the 55th Anniversary of the Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales (EGREM)

May 23, 2019

The gala "Music Unites Us" will take place on May 25 at the Karl Marx Theater for the 55th anniversary of the Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales (EGREM), and as part of the International Cuban Music Fair Cubadisco 2019.

The show will feature artists from the catalog of that music label, who have had a close relationship with the company in recent years, according to Maybe Martínez Bonilla, public relations specialist for the record company, who spoke to the press.

Popular groups and performers make up the show, among which are Buena Fe, Cimafunk, David Torrens, Eduardo Sandoval, El Niño y la Verdad, Frank Fernández, Frasis, Haila María Mompié, Harold Merino and Ivette Cepeda.

The public will also be able to enjoy performances by Luna Manzanares, Michel Herrera, the Orquesta Failde, Pedrito Calvo, Raúl Paz, The Cuban Sax, Waldo Mendoza, and the Ballet Revolution.

Created in 1964, EGREM is joining this edition of the most important gathering of the recording industry in the country with the commercialization of its phonographic products in the Cuba Pavilion.

The record company obtained 15 awards and three special prizes, out of 31 nominations it received for the Cubadisco 2019 contest, whose results were announced on May 18.

The phonogram "Saxophones Live Session," by the Cuban Sax Quintet, obtained one of the two Grand Prizes awarded, and also won in the categories of Instrumental Music, Making of, and Sound Design.

Also awarded from the EGREM catalog were the collection "55 D' Lujo"; "En vivo," a joint proposal by the Orquesta Aragón and saxophonist Michel Herrera; and the album "Con todo respeto Haila canta a Armando Manzanero."

The Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales obtained two Benny Moré Centennial Awards for the phonograms "Lo más Bárbaro del Ritmo 1945 – 1952" and "Siempre tu voz: Homenaje a Benny Moré" by Omara Portuondo and the Orquesta Failde.

In the categories section, EGREM won awards in Dance Music for "De vuelta al barrio" by El Niño y la Verdad; in Fusion for the album "Voy" by Eme Alfonso; in New Trovadorism for the album "Atrapasueños" by Tony Ávila; and in Musicological Notes for "Nueva música: Premios UNEAC de Composición," volumes I and II.

This music fair, which received close to 200 records for competition and where a total of 150 were nominated, will culminate on May 26 with a grand concert on Avenida Carlos III at six in the afternoon.