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EP record "Tambores de Enrique Bonne" (Areíto/EGREM 7″ 45 rpm EP, EPA-6301)
Audio Recording
A 7-inch, 45 rpm extended-play vinyl record in its illustrated paper sleeve, produced and distributed by EGREM (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales), Cuba's state recording enterprise, on its principal label Areíto — whose logo is a stylized Taíno cemí (idol) mask. The recording presents Enrique Bonne's percussion ensemble (the "Tambores de Enrique Bonne," directed by Bonne). Side A is "Como Arrullo de Palma," a son composed by Ernesto Lecuona, arranged by Enrique Bonne, with soloist Reins (Reinaldo) Maceo; Side B is "Cuando Viene el Tren," a fantasía by Bonne. The disc label carries the EGREM slogan "La música cubana alrededor del mundo," the catalog number EPA-6301, "45 rpm," and "Cara A." The front sleeve frames, inside concentric colored rings, a color aerial photograph of Havana's Vedado district dominated by the circular, spider-roofed Coppelia ice-cream pavilion. The back repeats the title and program, credits sleeve design to Noelvis Díaz, and notes "Producido y distribuido por egrem / La Habana, Cuba – (Curva RIAA)." Condition: heavily worn — front sleeve creased, edge-torn, and with old tape repair at the top corner; the back bears a handwritten ink dedication and a pencilled price, "$4.00."
2025.1.282
EGREM was established in 1964 as Cuba's recording monopoly, and Areíto — named for the Taíno song-and-dance ceremony and marked with an indigenous device — framed the catalog as a continuation of a deep Cuban cultural lineage, while the label slogan announced an explicit mission to circulate "Cuban music around the world." The music itself comes from Santiago de Cuba's carnival and conga tradition: Enrique Bonne (born 1926 in San Luis, Santiago de Cuba province) founded his percussion ensemble in 1961, initially known as Los Tambores de Oriente, and was the creator of the pilón rhythm, developed with his collaborator Pacho Alonso. Applying that drum-ensemble treatment even to a classic Lecuona son reflects the period's elevation and official recording of Afro-Cuban popular and folkloric forms. The cover does parallel ideological work: it is an aerial view of Coppelia, the "flying saucer" modernist pavilion designed by Mario Girona that opened on June 4, 1966 in Vedado as a flagship of socialist leisure championed by Fidel Castro. Pairing brand-new revolutionary-modernist Havana with santiaguero percussion situates the record squarely in the cultural self-image of 1960s Cuba. The pencilled price and the affectionate handwritten dedication are themselves valuable: they record the disc's life as both a priced commodity and a personal gift passing between Cuban hands.
45 RPM Record
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Leopoldo Arús Gálvez collection
2025.1
Record belonged to Ada Elsis Ildelisa del Loreto, wife of Leopoldo's son.
Enrique Bonne
Composer
Areíto
Son
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
Spanish
Designed by Noelvis Diaz, the front of the cover is a photograph of Havana, depicting the world's largest ice cream parlor, Coppelia. The back cover lists the songs included on the record. The background is dark blue and a white circle outlined in orange, blue, and yellow lines provides the background for the writing.
Dating: no date is printed on disc or sleeve. EGREM was founded in 1964 and the cover shows the completed Coppelia (1966), so the EP dates to circa 1966 or shortly after (later 1960s). The exact pressing year should be refined against EGREM's EPA-630x series if a discographic source can be located. Bonne's ensemble was Santiago de Cuba–based; EGREM's main recording/production in this period was in Havana, so a Havana session is most likely but worth confirming.
Como Arrullo de Palma
Ernesto Lecuona
Composer
Cuando viene el tren
Enrique Bonne
Composer
Note
back cover
Para mi nietecita Grisel, con toda el alma, tía Alicia
Spanish
To my granddaughter Grisel, with all my heart, Aunt Alicia
Pen
Note
back cover
$4.00
Pencil
18.5 cm
18.5 cm
vinyl, sleeve case
Case
Fair
Leopoldo Arús Caraballo
owner
Enrique Bonne
artist
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
production, ownership
Santiago de Cuba
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America