EGREM/Areito (cover photo: Roberto Salas, design: Santos Toledo, artist: Benny Moré tribute), "Festival de Música Popular Contemporánea - Benny Moré," 1970s. Offset print, vinyl record

This posthumous tribute album celebrates Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré (1919-1963), known as "El Bárbaro del Ritmo" (The Barbarian of Rhythm), Cuba's most beloved popular musician. The cover features Roberto Salas's striking solarized portrait of Benny Moré against a deep purple background, his face tilted upward in ecstatic song rendered in vibrant orange, pink, blue, and olive-green tones. Solarization—a photographic technique involving brief light exposure during development that creates partial tone reversal and distinctive halos—transforms this performance photograph into psychedelic pop art perfectly capturing Moré's transcendent musical spirit.

Roberto Salas, Cuba's preeminent revolutionary photographer, elevates this tribute beyond conventional memorial by creating an image that visualizes Moré's explosive musical energy and joyful intensity. The ornate yellow typography spelling "BENNY MORÉ" across the top references both Art Nouveau elegance and circus poster exuberance, appropriate for an artist who combined sophisticated musical arrangements with irrepressible showmanship. Santos Toledo's overall design integrates Salas's photograph with bold graphic elements, creating a cover that honors tradition while embracing contemporary psychedelic aesthetics.

The Festival de Música Popular Contemporánea, organized by Cuba's Ministry of Culture through its Music Direction, aimed to preserve authentic traditional genres while fostering new creative developments. This competitive festival selected works by musical authors whose compositions were chosen by principal juries and performed by relevant soloists and orchestral groups. The album features Orquesta Festival performing Moré tributes including "Mi Visión del Benny" (instrumental fantasy by Francisco García Caturla), "Todo Es Mío" (son guaracha by Omar Pérez), "Nancy Rubiery," "Date Prisa," compositions by Fernandito Sánchez, José Rolando Valdés, and tracks by Conjunto Rumbavana, with additional performances celebrating Moré's enduring influence.

Born in Santa Isabel de las Lajas on August 24, 1919, Moré died in Havana on February 19, 1963, just as Cuba's revolutionary cultural institutions were being established. This EGREM release  demonstrates how the revolution canonized pre-revolutionary popular artists like Moré as authentic expressions of Cuban identity.