Panart | |
---|---|
Parent company | Concord |
Founded | 1944 |
Founder | Ramón Sabat |
Defunct | May 29, 1961 |
Genre | Cuban music |
Country of origin | Cuba |
Location | Calle San Miguel No. 410, Centro Habana, Havana |
Panart was one of the first and most successful independent record labels in Cuba, founded in 1944 by engineer Ramón Sabat. In 1961, its studios were seized by Fidel Castro's communist regime and the label was nationalized, becoming "Panart Nacionalizada", which shortly after was absorbed by EGREM.
Together with RCA Victor's, Panart studios were the main recording studios in Cuba during the 1950s. Since the 1960s, they are known as the Areito studios, owned by EGREM. In addition, Panart acted as a distributor for Odeon, Musart, Sonora and Capitol Records. Its only sublabel, Sonoro, was established in 1949 and signed several trova acts such as Los Compadres.
In 2016, Panart was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music (renamed Concord in 2019) as a part of its purchase of Musart. [1] Within Concord, Panart is operated as an imprint of the historical reissue label Craft Recordings. [2]
After studying music, joining the army and obtaining a degree in engineering, Ramón Sabat began working in several music labels in New York City. In 1943, the label he was working in, Musicraft, folded, and he decided to bring the necessary assets to Cuba to fulfill his desire of establishing his own Cuban-based record company. [3] Thus in 1944 Sabat became the founder and president of the Cuban Plastics & Record Corporation. According to Irais Huerta Rubio, the majority stockholder of the company was a Cuban electric company controlled by an American holding company. In 1945, the company sold the whole of its shares to Sabat, becoming the sole owner of the company and launching it under the name Panart (sometimes stylized Pan-Art, short for Panamerican Art). [4] His wife, Julia Sabat, became the vice-president, and millionaire Enrique Gorrín became its treasurer. [3] The company's headquarters and recording studios were at San Miguel 410, between Campanario and Lealtad, in Havana, while the pressing plant was located outside of the city.
The first record released by Panart (cat. no. 1001) was a 10" single by Cascarita with the Julio Cueva Orchestra ("Ampárame" / "En el ñongo"). [5] Eight more singles were released in 1944 and 83 in 1945, [5] starting with Orquesta Hermanos Castro "Cucha el eco del tambó" / "Toda una vida" (cat. no. 1010). [3] [6] Although Panart is frequently mentioned as the first independent record label in Cuba, a small label called Star was established a few years prior, recording four songs by the Septeto Nacional in 1940. [7] In 1949, Panart launched Sonoro, a sublabel dedicated to traditional folk music (mainly son in the trova style), including Trío Servando Díaz, Trío Caney, Los Incógnitos, Los Compadres and Compay Segundo in its initial roster. [5]
In 1952, Panart obtained exclusive rights for the pressing of music licensed by Decca. A few years later this contract was broken as Decca reached an agreement with EMI/Capitol. [3] The expansion of the record label was nonetheless unprecedented for a Caribbean label. After establishing a subsidiary (Panart Recording Corporation) in New York in 1952, the same year it pressed its first LPs, [5] [8] Panart was pressing half a million records a year, 20% of which was exported outside of Cuba (over 50% by 1959). [3] [9] Its dominance over the jukebox business in Cuba and the strategic (geographical) advantage over its main competitor, RCA Victor, explain part of Panart's success. Moreover, Panart was able to secure contracts with some of the most popular and innovative musicians and groups in the country, from Conjunto Casino to Julio Gutiérrez and Cachao.
After the Cuban Revolution, Cuban culture, including the record industry, was to be nationalized. Most Cuban record companies either folded or quickly relocated to Florida or Puerto Rico. Panart's fate was somewhat different, on May 29, 1961, its studios and factory were seized by the government. By that time, Ramón and Julia Sabat were already in the US. [3] For a short period of time, until 1962, Panart's records were sold as "Panart Nacionalizada" to reflect this. Between 1962 and 1964, the Imprenta Nacional the Cuba acted as the only legal Cuban label. [3] In 1964, the EGREM "trumpet" logo began to be used in stickers put over the Panart logo of previously released albums, and by the time Areito was founded as EGREM's main imprint in Panart's former facilities, Panart had disappeared from Cuban record stores. [3]
Thanks to Julia Sabat, who sent the master copies from Havana to New York, around 80% of Panart's catalogue was "saved" before the government took over the company. Julia and her daughters then left Havana shortly after the Revolution, while Ramón remained in Cuba in charge of the company. Finally, in 1961, they managed to get Ramón out of Cuba. He and his wife established themselves in Miami. Julia started working in a record factory in Hialeah with Ramón's brother, Galo. [10] Together they issued 1950s recordings made in Cuba on various imprints, including Adria Records and Puchito Records, all manufactured in Hialeah.
Besides having to compete with major American record labels, primarily RCA Victor (or its subsidiary, Discuba, between 1959 and 1961), and to a lesser extent, Capitol, Panart had to compete with numerous independent Cuban records labels that were established during the 1950s following the success of Sabat's company. These Cuban labels include Puchito, Kubaney, Suaritos, Gema and Maype amongst others. [9]
Rubén González Fontanills was a Cuban pianist. Together with Lilí Martínez and Peruchín he is said to have "forged the style of modern Cuban piano playing in the 1940s".
Dionisio Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho, is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger whose career spans over 50 years. An original member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, in 1973 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands.
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A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.
EGREM is the national record label of Cuba. It is headquartered in Centro Habana, where its main record studios operate. It was founded in 1964 after the nationalization of the Cuban music industry, absorbing the assets of Panart. EGREM had a monopoly on music production activities from 1964 until the late 1980s when independent labels reemerged. EGREM's archive comprises "the most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world".
Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz, better known as Ñico Saquito, was a Cuban trova songwriter, guitarist and singer. He is widely considered the most prolific and successful composer of guarachas, most of which he wrote during his stint as a member of Los Guaracheros de Oriente. Among his most enduring compositions are "Cuidadito compay gallo", "María Cristina", "Adiós compay gato", "Al vaivén de mi carreta", "Camina como Chencha" and "Amarrao compé".
Federico Arístides Soto Alejo, better known as Tata Güines, was a Cuban percussionist, bandleader and arranger. He was widely regarded as a master of the conga drum, and alongside Carlos "Patato" Valdés, influential in the development of contemporary Afro-Cuban music, including Afro-Cuban jazz. He specialized in a form of improvisation known as descarga, a format in which he recorded numerous albums throughout the years with Cachao, Frank Emilio Flynn, Estrellas de Areito, Alfredo Rodríguez and Jane Bunnett, among others. In the 1990s he released two critically acclaimed albums as a leader: Pasaporte and Aniversario. His composition "Pa' gozar" has become a standard of the descarga genre.
Guillermo Barreto was a Cuban drummer and timbalero. He was a major figure in the Cuban music scene for more than fifty years and one of the first drummers in Cuba to play Afro-Cuban jazz.
Andrés Echevarría Callava, better known as Niño Rivera, was a renowned Cuban tres player, songwriter and arranger. Early in his career he played with the Sexteto Boloña and Sexteto Bolero, before forming his own conjunto in the 1940s. His music was based on popular Cuban forms such as the son montuno and the chachachá, often with notable jazz influences.
Areito is a Cuban record label founded in 1964 as the primary imprint of EGREM, which is based in Havana. Areito is named after the recording studio from which the vast majority of its catalog stems, which in turn was named after the Taíno ritual of the same name. The record studio had established in 1944, originally named Panart studios and was associated with recording engineer Ramón Sabat's Panart record label.
Ramón S. Sabat was a musician and the Cuban founder of the pioneering record label Panart, which he established in 1944, eventually gaining international sale of its releases. He had studied music in the United States as a youth, serving in the U.S. Army in one of its bands, and completing his undergraduate degree in engineering at New York University. He returned to Cuba where he worked in recording.
Luis Martínez Griñán, better known as Lilí Martínez, was a Cuban pianist, arranger and composer specializing in the son montuno style. He played in the Conjunto de Arsenio Rodríguez and Conjunto Chappottín. Together with Rubén González and Peruchín, he is said to have "forged the style of modem Cuban piano playing in the 1940s".
Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature is the debut album by Cuban double bassist Cachao, released in 1957 by Panart. The album is composed of descargas, improvised jam sessions with Cuban themes. It was the fourth installment in Panart's Cuban Jam Session series after Julio Gutiérrez's Cuban Jam Session Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and Niño Rivera's Vol. 3. Unlike the other installments, Cachao's session comprised short improvisations instead of extended jams. The album sold over a million copies and became "a Latin music milestone". In 2013, it was induced into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry.
Mercedes Valdés Granit, better known as Merceditas Valdés, was a Cuban singer who specialized in Afro-Cuban traditional music. Under the aegis of ethnomusicologists Fernando Ortiz and Obdulio Morales, Valdés helped popularize Afro-Cuban music throughout Latin America. In 1949, she became one of the first female Santería singers to be recorded. Her debut album was released at the start of the 1960s, when the Cuban government nationalized the record industry. She then went on hiatus before making a comeback in the 1980s with a series of albums entitled Aché, in collaboration with artists such as Frank Emilio Flynn and rumba ensemble Yoruba Andabo. She also appeared in Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana and continued performing until her death in 1996.
Puchito Records was Cuba's second independent record label. It was founded in 1954 during the mambo and cha-cha-chá explosion. Many of its recordings, produced by its founder Jesús Gorís, became instant hits.
Puchito Records was Cuba's second independent record label. It was founded in 1954 during the mambo and cha-cha-chá explosion of the 1950s. Many of its recordings, produced by its founder Jesús Gorís (1921–2006), became instant hits. Cuban music styles represented in its discography include danzón, güajira, son cubano, son montuno, cha-cha-chá, guaracha, guaguancó, Cuban bolero, Cuban rumba, mambo, new flamenco, and Zarzuela. Other styles include farruca, merengue (Dominican), Ranchera (Mexican), nueva canción (Mexican) ... styles from Spain include cuplé, pasodoble, and flamenco. The ensembles range from studio orchestras to jazz combos to big bands to charangas.
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Discuba is a Cuban record label founded in 1959 by RCA Victor. It released music by several internationally successful artists such as Beny Moré, Orquesta Aragón and La Lupe. Following the end of the Cuban Revolution and the nationalization of the music industry by the Cuban government in 1961, Discuba relocated to Hialeah, Florida, as did many Cuban independent labels. Since the late 1980s the label has mostly reissued its back catalogue, and moved its headquarters to North Bergen, New Jersey.
Arcaño y sus Maravillas was a Cuban charanga founded in 1937 by flautist Antonio Arcaño. Until its dissolution in 1958, it was one of the most popular and prolific danzón orchestras in Cuba, particularly due to the development of the danzón-mambo by its two main composers and musicians: Orestes López and his brother Israel López "Cachao" (bass). Such upbeat version of the danzón served as a precursor of the mambo popularized by Pérez Prado, as well as the chachachá created by Enrique Jorrín, a violinist who started his career in the Maravillas. Other important musicians in the Maravillas were pianist Jesús López, timbalero Ulpiano Díaz, violinist Félix Reina and flautist Eulogio Ortiz.
Pedro Celestino Depestre González was a Cuban violinist, arranger and musical director. He was one of Cuba's most prolific charanga violinists, playing with Orquesta Aragón, Orquesta Maravillas de Florida, Orquesta Típica Juventud and Estrellas de Areito, among others. In the late 1990s, he recorded with the Buena Vista Social Club ensemble and toured with Orlando "Cachaíto" López in 2001, but died on stage during the first concert of the tour.