Artist.......: Omar Sosa with NDR Big Band and Jaques Molerenbaum
Album........: 42 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: 2011-05-09
Str.date.....: 2010-11-30
Quality......: 213kbps/48.0kHz/Joint Stereo
Url..........: http://omarsosa.com/
track title time
1. 42 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz 51:58
de Barcelona
Runtime 51:58
Size 79.30
Release Notes:
Omar Sosa's music is a unique style of Afro-Cuban jazz, and while it is rooted
in the folkloric traditions of the African Diaspora, he always takes an
exploratory approach - never one to let orthodoxy stand in the way of his
pursuit of freedom. Sosa offers a joyful mix of jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms,
combining percussive forays inside the piano and a series of electronic effects
with his inspired, passionate playing at the keyboard. His tempos are fluid, and
his moods change freely. Sosa revels in the irresistible clave grooves of Latin
jazz, while adding experimental touches to keep his listeners on their toes.
Omar Sosa was born April 10, 1965, and raised in Camagⁿey, Cuba.At the age of
eight, Omar began studying percussion, including marimba, at the music
conservatory in Camagⁿey. After passing a rigorous musical exam, Omar moved his
studies to the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Musica in Havana. Here, as a
teenager, not finding his first choice instrument--the marimba--readily
available, he began to focus on the piano, finishing his formal education in
1983 at the Instituto Superior de Arte, also in Havana.
While at the conservatory in Havana, and influenced by his classmates, Omar
became familiar with the music called jazz. He listened to a radio program
hosted by the father of drummer Horacio ôEl Negroö Hernandez. Students would
stay up late to hear the show, and compare notes at the school the next day. At
the time, this radio show was one of the main sources of information about jazz.
Later, as some of his peerÆs musician parents began to travel, Omar received
records and information about many of the great American artists like Oscar
Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarret, Coltrane, and Charlie
Parker. At the same time, Omar was influenced by progressive Cuban artists like
Chucho Valdez, Irakere, and Emiliano Salvador. It was also as he finished his
studies in 1983 that he was introduced to the music of Thelonious Monk, whose
legacy of expressive freedom has left a strong mark on OmarÆs creative approach.
By the late æ80Æs, having studied everything from Afro-Cuban folkloric
traditions to European classical music, he began working with two Cuban pop
singers - first Vicente Feliu, then Xiomara Laugart, serving as musical director
for various of their touring and recording ensembles.
Moving to Quito, Ecuador for several years beginning in 1993, Sosa discovered
the folkloric music of Esmeraldas, a pocket of African-rooted culture on the
northwest coast of that country known especially for its use of the marimba. In
addition to launching his own jazz fusion ensemble, Entrenoz, Sosa produced
ôAndarele,ö a recording by the Afro-Ecuadorian group Koral y Esmeralda.
After a brief stint in Palma Mallorca, Spain, Omar moved to the San Francisco
Bay Area in late 1995 where he quickly invigorated the local Latin jazz scene
with his explosive playing and adventurous writing, and his association with
master percussionist John Santos. The next year Sosa made his U.S. recording
debut on Ota Records with the solo piano ôOmar Omar.ö He followed this in 1997
with the first in a trilogy of groundbreaking large-ensemble, World-Jazz
recordings: ôFree Roots,ö ôSpirit Of The Roots,ö (1998) and ôBembon.ö (2000)
With ôPrietos,ö (2001) and ôSentir,ö (2002), Omar stretches his genre-expanding
fusion still further with the use of traditional vocals and instruments from the
Gnawa culture of North Africa. We find tongues in Arabic, English, Portuguese,
Spanish and Yoruba, as well as instruments like the guembri, oud, djembe,
balafon, and marimba. Sentir received both a Latin GRAMMY and GRAMMY nomination
for Best Latin Jazz Album, as well as the award for Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album of
the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association in New York. OmarÆs ôAyaguna,ö
(2003) is a live Duo recording with Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles.
In September 2003, Omar released his third solo piano recording, ôA New Life,ö
dedicated to his son Lonious Said Sosa. Also in September 2003, Omar Sosa
received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Institution for his
contributions to the development of Latin music in the United States. The
presentation coincided with OmarÆs Washington, DC debut, at the famed Voice of
America Auditorium.
Mr. Sosa began the year (2003) with the debut of his first work for symphony
orchestra, entitled ôFrom Our Mother,ö performed at the Paramount Theatre in
Oakland, California by the Oakland East Bay Symphony under the direction of
Michael Morgan. The 45-minute work in three movements, which combines folkloric
elements from Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador with modern jazz harmonies, was
co-commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the
Oakland East Bay Symphony, with partial funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Released in January 2004, ôPictures of Soul,ö is a Duo collaboration with Los
Angeles-based percussionist Adam Rudolph. 2005 turned into a big year for Sosa,
not only was he nominated for a BBC Award for World Music, his record,
ôMulatos,ö was also nominated for a Latin Jazz Album of the Year award by the
Jazz Journalists Association in New York City. That same year of Æ05, he put out
ôBallads.ö
Not seeming to slow down his incredible output, in 2006 he put out two live
dates there was ôLive α FIP,ö and ôPromise.ö
Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today:
composer, arranger, producer, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. He fuses a
wide range of world music and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban
roots to create a fresh and original urban sound - all with a Latin jazz heart.
On stage, Omar Sosa is a charismatic figure, inspiring his fellow musicians with
his dynamic playing and improvisational approach to the music - an approach full
of raw emotional power and humor. Sosa invariably inspires audiences to their
feet and to join him in chorus vocals, heightening the sense of spontaneity and
connection.
Latest update for 2008:
ôAfreecanos.ö Rooted in Africa, Omar SosaÆs new studio album brings together
musicians from Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and France to celebrate the rich heritage
of African music in jazz and Latin music. Mr. SosaÆs approach takes folkloric
elements from Africa and the Americas, combines them with his Afro-Cuban roots,
and brings them all forward into a contemporary jazz expression. For the first
time since his arrangements on Spirit Of The Roots and Prietos, Mr. Sosa uses a
horn section, and Afreecanos features a variety of traditional and modern flute
sounds. The recording also features kora, ngoni, guitar-sitar, and a variety of
folkloric percussion instruments, including batß, timbales, kongoman, mÆbira,
and talking drum.
Featured on the recording are Cuban drummer Julio Barreto, Mozambican electric
bassist Childo Tomas, Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla, Cuban folkloric master
Lßzaro Galarraga, Cuban woodwind player Leandro Saint-Hill, French trumpet
player StΘphane Belmondo, and French multi-instrumentalist Christophe Disco
Minck. Also featured are Cuban timbal master Orestes Vilat≤, Malian
percussionist Baba Sissoko, Malian flute player Ali Wague, and Senegalese kora
player Ali Boulo Santo, et al.
Mr. Sosa has taken Afro-Cuban musical forms, like the rumba, and arranged them
for African musicians and African instruments... releasing these forms from the
traditional Afro-Cuban clave... and opening them to innovative
interpretations... combining the fokloric with the contemporary, the ancestral
with the urban. Throughout the album we hear folkloric elements infusing a
modern jazz idiom, including spirit vocals and percussion from Africa, Cuba, and
Brazil. The sound is lush and orchestral.
Afreecanos is produced by Paris-based drummer Steve Argⁿelles, who also produced
Mr. SosaÆs 2004 GRAMMY-nominated recording, Mulatos. Afreecanos was recorded at
Fattoria Musica in Osnabrⁿck, Germany, with additional recording in Paris and
San Francisco.
The recording is dedicated to the late Cuban percussion masters, Pancho Quinto
and Angß Diaz.