PIANIST, COMPOSER
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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, Mr. 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. Mr. Sosa invariably inspires audiences to their feet and to join him
in chorus vocals, heightening the sense of spontaneity and connection.
Mr. Sosa's latest CD on Otá Records, Mulatos , features Latin jazz master
Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet. The recording is an adventurous, finely wrought,
and wholly delightful mélange of Cuban jazz, Latin dance grooves, French chanson,
North African trance music, and European folk. It dances with rhythmic
inspirations of Indian tabla, jazz drums, and studio mixing. Also featured is
the delicate voice of the Arabic lute, the oud, and the composer himself on
marimba. “Mulatos” was recently nominated for Latin Jazz Album of the Year by
the NYC-based Jazz Journalists Association.
Mr. 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 has released 15 recordings on the Oakland-based Otá Records label
since 1997, including 2002's GRAMMY-nominated Sentir . He performed recently
with his Octet at the opening of Carnegie Hall's new Zankel Hall, about which
Alex Ross of The New Yorker remarked that Sosa has “a ferocious flair for rhythm
and a keen musical wit”. Composer John Adams, who curated the opening of
Carnegie Hall's new venue, commented that “Sosa is a deeply creative musician
with an extraordinary harmonic sense. His piano playing is sui generis : It has
obvious roots in Cuban music, but he's taken his approach to the keyboard into
completely new regions”. And Don Heckman of The Los Angeles Times recently wrote
“Sosa's vision of contemporary jazz reaches across every imaginable boundary”.
For more information, please visit www.melodia.com .
Omar Sosa was nominated in 2003 for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in the
‘Americas' category, along with Ibrahim Ferrer, Caetano Veloso, and Os
Tribalistas. He began 2004 with the debut of his first work for symphony
orchestra, entitled From Our Mother , performed at the Paramount Theatre in
Oakland 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.
OMAR SOSA
- AFREECANOS (2008)
Omar Sosa (Cuba)
piano, Fender Rhodes, vibraphone, marimba, percussion
Julio
Barreto (Cuba), drums
Childo Tomas (Mozambique), electric bass
Stephane Belmondo (France), flugelhorn
Leandro Saint-Hill (Cuba), flute, alto saxophone
Mola Sylla (Senegal), vocals, percussion
Baba Sissoko (Mali), talking drum, ngoni
Mamani Keita (Mali), vocals
Jorge Alabe (Brazil), rum, rumpi, agogo, vocals
Graca Onasile (Brazil), vocals
Lázaro Galarraga (Cuba), vocals, batá
Fanta Cissoko (Senegal), vocals
Orestes Vilató (Cuba), timbales
Lionel Belmondo (France), bamboo flute
Ali Wague (Guinea), tambin
Ali Boulo Santo (Senegal), kora
Mohamed Soulimane (Morocco), violin
Christophe "Disco" Minck (France), ngoni, kamalengoni, guitar-sitar
Ousseynou Piagne Epa (Senegal), piano drum, zabar
Michael Spiro (U.S.A.), batá
Bill Ortiz (U.S.A.), trumpet
1. Prologo
2. Ollú
3. Nene La Kanou
4. Yeye Moro
5. Babalada
6. Light In The Sky
7. D'Son
8. Tres Negros
9. Mon Yalala
10. Tumborum
11. Why Angá?
Il dinamico Omar Sosa ha
dato vita a una delle piů ricche combinazioni artistiche della sua
generazione. A una sconfinata curiositŕ culturale, il pianista accosta
una misteriosa capacitŕ di unire elementi apparentemente diversi. Le
precedenti uscite discografiche si sono mosse tra la parola parlata e l’hip
hop, i viaggi nel tempo, fino all’antica musica degli Gnawa del Marocco.
Nato a Camaguey, Cuba, Sosa ha cominciato a sviluppare le proprie doti
artistiche a 8 anni, passando dal piů rinomato Conservatorio di Cuba
alla Scuola Nazionale di Musica. E’ stato ammaliato da molti pianisti
che lo hanno influenzato: i cubani Frank Emilio Flynn, Chucho Valdéz,
Emiliano Salvador e le icone come Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock. La
sua musica ingloba elementi legati alle tradizioni folcloristiche di
Cuba e delle Americhe, compresa la pratica spirituale denominata “santeria”.
Dopo essere emigrato da Cuba ha vissuto in Ecuador, Spagna e nella zona
della baia di San Francisco, dove ha sviluppato una preziosa
collaborazione con il noto percussionista e maestro
John Santos.
Per il nuovo CD Afreecanos, Omar ha scelto di collaborare con un’estesa
formazione di musicisti, tutti provenienti da paesi che direttamente o
indirettamente hanno un legame con il continente africano (Cuba,
Mozambico, Francia, Senegal, Mali, Brasile, Usa, Guinea, Marocco). Il
senso di pace e di universalitŕ dell’Africa sono il punto di forza
dell’intero progetto. “In Afreecanos ho voluto continuare il mio lavoro
di ritorno alle origini, di ricerca di punti in comune fra le varie
tradizioni; come quella cubana, brasiliana, senegalese, guineana, del
Mali e del Mozambico”, dichiara Omar. “Il mio lavoro vuole dimostrare
che siamo figli della stessa Madre, e anche se siamo geograficamente
separati, siamo vicini nell’essenza, nei concetti e nelle radici. Ho
cercato di esprimere una piccola parte della faccia melodica dell’Africa
e credo che attraverso il jazz sono stato in grado di combinare
molteplici tradizioni attraverso un sound “senza frontiere”.
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OMAR SOSA
- LIVE A FIP (2006)
Omar Sosa: piano,
electronics, vocals
Miguel "Angá" Diaz: percussion
Steve Argüelles: drums,
electronics
Childo Tomas: electric bass, mbira, vocals
Luis Depestre:
saxophones, minor hand percussion
Review by Jason Crane
Review by C. Michael Bailey
Recensione di Paolo Peviani
more
tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels
OMAR SOSA
- MULATOS (2005)
Omar Sosa Piano, fender rhodes, harmonium,
marimba, vibraphone,
tubular bells, all percussion, samples, vocal
Dhafer Youssef Oud
Renaud Pion Clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet
Dieter Ilg Acoustic bass
Phillippe Foch Tabla, bowl
Steve Arguelles Drums, scratches
Aziz Arradi Guembri, qarqabas, vocal
Paquito D'Rivera First clarinet and solos on tracks 1,2,6
review by Elliott Simon
review by Chris May
Omar Sosa - Dos Caminos
Omar Sosa - El Consenso
Omar Sosa - Iyawo
Omar Sosa - L3zero
Omar Sosa - La Llamada
Omar Sosa - La Tra
Omar Sosa - Nuevo Manto
Omar Sosa - Reposo
Omar Sosa - Ternura
more
tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels
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