Carlos Puebla y sus tradicionales – Cuba: Songs for Our America album art
Paredon Records was founded in 1969 by Barbara Dane (b. 1927) and Irwin Silber (1925–2010) to “publish recordings of cultural expressions, especially protests, in order to preserve them.” Over its 15 years of active production, Paredon released 50 albums with “songs, music, poetry, speeches, documents of class struggle, national liberation, women’s emancipation and democratic rights”. Today it’s a sublabel of Folkways Records. The Smithsonian writes about Carlos Puebla (1917–1989):
Carlos Puebla challenged foreign influences and the forces of imperialism in 1950s Cuba with songs about his oppressed countrymen. Then, in his music, he chronicled and celebrated the 1959 revolution. He and his group have toured throughout Cuba, Latin America, and “anywhere they are needed by the revolution.” Liner notes in Spanish and English include song lyrics and an account of Puebla’s service to his lifelong cause.
Many of the album covers for Paredon Records were designed by Ronald Clyne (1925–2006), who’s also responsible for countless interesting sleeves for Folkways Records. For Cuba: Songs for Our America, he chose Joc Line. This display face is the work of Catalan designer Gabriel Fumanal Martinez who drew it when he was 20. Joc Line was chosen and released as one of the winners of a competition held by Letraset in 1973. Earlier this year, Brazilian designer Rafael Nascimento released a digital interpretation named Joc.
The chromatic setting of Joc Line is complemented by Helvetica. For the second line, Clyne used its Thin (a.k.a. Ultralight) weight, with extratight spacing. Helvetica Thin was added to the family in 1970. See this starveling in use on Clyne’s cover design for Music of the Bhutan from 1978.
The track names on the back are set in Times New Roman Bold.
