Cubadisco 2025 Final Results
(Commentary:  Bill Tilford)

I was not able to physically attend Cubadisco this year but have had an opportunity to listen to some of the best recordings from the winners.  A key difference between Cubadisco and the GRAMMY® awards is that Cubadisco does not require that a recording be released in the marketplace, merely completed.  Consequently, not all of the recordings you will see in the awards booklet will be available as of press time. You can download the awards booklet here:

https://www.timba.com/page_files/0002/0344/PREMIOS_CUBADISCO_2025_WEBtotal4.pdf

Not counting the verious special awards and international prizes, Colibri took home ten awards, EGREM and Bis Music took home six each, a US-based label, El Cerrito Records, won five (all joint projects with EGREM and Colibri).  A total of 26 different entities took home prizes in the regular awards sections.  Abdala did not have any awards this year. 
A noteworthy aspect of this year's vintage is the prevalence of collaborative projects, both by labes and by artists.  For example, the Grand Premio winner, Olukun by Rodirigo Sosa, was a collaboration between EGREM, Colibri and El Cerrito Records (the latter also collaborated with Colibri on the winner of the Tradiscional Variado  category, 100 años de la Sonora Matancera (1924-2024). A susbstantial number of winners this year were all-star or invitation projects or live recordings as opposed to an established group doing a studio project.  Nevertheless, the music is still very high quality, and I will be reviewing several of the winners in these pages in the months to come. 
Fans of Issac Delgado will be interested to know that he was awarded a Premio al Productor Musical in recognition of his increasing role as a producer, and a fellow who had already been  a rising jazz talent to watch, Rodrigo García Ameneiro, was awarded the Premio al Productor Musical Novel this year due to his prolific (and excellent) output as a producer.