LP record Leningrado — music by Juan Almeida (EGREM/Discos Siboney 12″ 33⅓ rpm stereo LP, LD-3672)

Audio Recording

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

LP record "Leningrado" — music by Juan Almeida (EGREM/Discos Siboney 12″ 33⅓ rpm stereo LP, LD-3672)

Entry/Object ID

2025.1.310

Description

A 12-inch, 33⅓ rpm stereo long-play vinyl record in a printed paper sleeve, produced by EGREM on its Discos Siboney label. The album presents music composed by Juan Almeida. Side A is a single extended instrumental, "Leningrado," orchestrated and directed by Rafael Somavilla and performed by an all-star solo lineup: Chucho Valdés (piano), Paquito D'Rivera (alto saxophone), Arturo Sandoval (trumpet, printed "Antonio Sandoval"), Pablo Menéndez (solo guitar), and the rumba group Los Papines, with the Orquesta EGREM. Side B holds six Almeida songs — "La Lupe," "El Campesino José," "El Arriero," "El Balsero del Toa," "Te Canta Mi Tambor," "Marinero Quiero Ser" — each orchestrated by a different arranger (Pedro Coto, Raúl Gómez, Enriqueta Almanza, Juan Pablo Torres, Rolando Baró, Francisco García "Caturla"). The cream Siboney disc label, with a snow-and-pine photo inset, reads "EGREM – Discos Siboney – LD-3672 – 33 R.P.M."

Context

"Leningrado" is Juan Almeida Bosque's instrumental homage to the Soviet city emblematic of Second World War sacrifice — the 900-day Siege of Leningrad — and the cover image of a red carnation laid on snow beside a makeshift cross directly evokes the Soviet practice of laying flowers at the Leningrad siege memorials. The instrumental gathers the cream of Cuban jazz — Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, and Arturo Sandoval, the founding nucleus of Irakere, plus Pablo Menéndez (the U.S.-born guitarist who settled in Cuba) and the master rumberos Los Papines — under Rafael Somavilla. So the homage to Leningrad is realized by the island's jazz elite, fusing Afro-Cuban rhythm and modern jazz in service of a state-sponsored solidarity theme. The involvement of the DOR (the Party's Departamento de Orientación Revolucionaria) design workshop and the recurring Polish engineer Jerzy Belc further locate the record within the state cultural-political apparatus.

Audio Format

33 RPM Record

Recording Type

Instrumental

Collection

The Cabrera Arús family collection, Leopoldo Arús Gálvez collection

Acquisition

Place Recorded

City

Santiago de Cuba

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Album Artwork Description

The front cover is a haunting photograph — a single red carnation and a pine branch lying in snow — with "LENINGRADO" in violet; the photographic composition and design are credited to Juan Almeida himself, with design/photography advisors from the DOR design workshop in Santiago de Cuba.

Track Details

Title

Leningrado

Track Contributors

Contributor

Francisco García (Caturla)

Role

Orchestration

Dimensions

Height

31 cm

Width

30 cm

Parts

vinyl, record case

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Leopoldo Arús Gálvez

Notes

owner

Person or Organization

Juan Almeida

Notes

author

Person or Organization

DOR

March 31, 2022

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 16, 2026