Parent company EGREM Parent organization EGREM Country of origin Cuba | Genre Cuban music Date founded 1964 Defunct 1996 | |
Location Calle San Miguel No. 410, Centro Habana, Havana | ||
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. Prior to the nationalization of the Cuban music industry in 1961, the studio was property of the Panart record label. Since the 1960s, Areito/EGREM has been the main music company in Cuba, managing most of the recording, manufacture and distribution of albums, EPs and singles in the country. Areito's counterpart in eastern Cuba is Siboney.
Both imprints, Areito and Siboney, were discontinued by EGREM in 1996. EGREM's studios in Havana are still called Estudios Areito.
International distribution
During the mid to late 1960s, the international distribution of Areito LPs and EPs was handled by Palma, a short-lived imprint organized by EGREM. In the 1970s, Palma was replaced by Guamá, an imprint launched by EGREM to commercialize Cuban music around the world.