RhoDeo 1915 Roots

Hello,


Today's artist is a prolific, much lauded performer known for his genre-bending recordings fusing Latin jazz, African traditions, avant-garde improvisation, classical music, and more. Born on April 10, 1965 in Camaguey, Cuba, he began studying music at age five while attending the Escuela Provincial de Musica in Camaguey. This led to his intense study of drums and percussion at two other schools during the late '70s and early '80s: Cuba's Escuela Nacional de Musica and Instituto Superior de Arte. He has played with a number of world musicians all around the globe, and often collaborates with those outside the jazz and Afro-Cuban traditions. Sosa mixes jazz influences alongside Latin rhythms, North African percussions and spoken word/rap lyrics. He also references classical music. Political and spiritual, he describes his music as an expression of humanism and Santería. On various projects his sounds have ranged from pleasant and melodic, big Latin band, piano improvisation, world music, to free jazz and avant-garde. .......N'Joy

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Composer-pianist-bandleader Omar Sosa was born in 1965 in Camagüey, Cuba’s largest inland city. At age eight, Omar began studying percussion and marimba at the music conservatory in Camagüey; in Havana, as a teenager, he took up piano at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Música, and completed his formal education at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Among his influences, Omar cites traditional Afro-Cuban music, European classical composers (including Chopin, Bartok, and Satie), Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Chucho Valdés, and the pioneering Cuban jazz group Irakere. Moving in 1993 to Ecuador, Omar immersed himself in the folkloric traditions of Esmeraldas, the northwest coast region whose African heritage includes the distinctive marimba tradition. He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995, and soon invigorated the Latin jazz scene with his adventurous writing and percussive style.

Annually performing upwards of 100 concerts on six continents, Omar has appeared in venues as diverse as the Blue Note (New York, Milan, and Tokyo), Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, the Getty Center, London’s Barbican and Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, and Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt; festivals including Monterey Jazz, JVC Jazz, Montreal Jazz, Marciac Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Helsinki, Grenoble Jazz, Montreux Jazz, Naples Jazz, Ravenna Jazz, Roma Jazz, Spoletto, WOMAD, and Cape Town International Jazz; and universities on several continents, including a visiting artist fellowship at Princeton University in March 2008, and a visiting artist residency at Dartmouth College in April 2008. Omar will return to Dartmouth College for a second artist residency in February 2011.

Mr. Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC in 2003 for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States. He has received two nominations from the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards, in 2004 and 2006, both in the ‘Americas’ category. In 2003 Omar Sosa received the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association in NYC for his recording Sentir; and a nomination from the Jazz Journalists Association for Latin Jazz Album of the Year in 2005 for his recording Mulatos. Omar Sosa received an orchestral commission from Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Oakland Easy Bay Symphony, supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the MAP Fund (Multi-Arts Production Fund). During 2001-2002, Mr. Sosa composed a 45-minute work in three movements for symphony orchestra entitled, From Our Mother, which received its world premiere in January 2003 by the Oakland East Bay Symphony under the direction of Michael Morgan. In 2009, Mr. Sosa received an orchestral commission from the city of Girona, Spain and the Festival de Músicas Religiosas y del Mundo de Girona. The 20-minute work for symphony orchestra, entitled Oda Africana, received its world premiere in July 2009 by the Jove Orquesta Athenea, conducted by Lluis Caballeria. Also in 2009, Mr. Sosa received a commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival to present a tribute to Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue recording, featuring Afro-Cuban interpretations of the seminal Davis work on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The project was performed at L’Auditori in Barcelona in November 2009.

In 2008, Omar Sosa received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in conjunction with Yerba Buena Gardens (San Francisco) and the San Francisco International Arts Festival to present a new Omar Sosa Quintet featuring American roots vocalist Tim Eriksen. This collaboration resulted in the 2009 CD release on Half Note Records, Across The Divide, recorded live at the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC. The project received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary World Music Album, and a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best Instrumental Album, both in 2009. For May 2011, Mr. Sosa has received further funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in conjunction with the Jazz School in Berkeley, California and the San Francisco International Arts Festival, to present a series of workshops with noted Latin jazz percussionist, educator and historian, John Santos, as well as a Festival performance in San Francisco with his primary touring ensemble, Afreecanos Quartet.


Mr. Sosa’s recording career began in 1997 with the release of his first solo piano recording, Omar Omar on the Oakland, California-based record label, Otá Records, and has continued with the release of 22 CDs as a leader, resulting in five GRAMMY nominations. These include a 2002 GRAMMY nomination and Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album for the CD Sentir; a 2005 GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album for the CD Mulatos, featuring Cuban saxophone and clarinet master, Paquito D’Rivera; and the two nominations for Across The Divide in 2009. Omar works with an array of African, Arabic, European, Indian, Latin, and North American musicians. Among his many associations are drummers and percussionists Steve Argüelles, Julio Barretto, Mino Cinelu, Miguel "Angá" Diaz, Marque Gilmore, Trilok Gurtu, Marcos Ilukán, Ramiro Musotto, Gustavo Ovalles, Pancho Quinto, Adam Rudolph, John Santos, Carlos "Patato" Valdés, and Orestes Vilató; singers Tim Eriksen, Lázaro Galarraga, Marta Galarraga, El Houssaine Kili, Xiomara Laugart, María Márquez, Will Power, Mola Sylla, the Tenores San Gavino de Oniferi - Sardinia, and Dhafer Youssef; trumpeter Paolo Fresu; and woodwind masters Paquito D'Rivera, Luis Depestre, Leandro Saint-Hill, and Mark Weinstein.

A major new project bears the fruit of Omar's first big band collaboration, working with composer Jaques Morelenbaum and Hamburg's North German Radio (NDR) Bigband. Recorded in 2007 and 2008 at the NDR studios in Hamburg, it features Jaques Morelenbaum arrangements of material from the Omar Sosa CDs Spirit Of The Roots (1999), Bembón (2000), and Afreecanos (2008). Jaques Morelenbaum has arranged for Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Cesária Evora, among many others. Omar Sosa-NDR Bigband performances were held at the Banlieues Bleues festival in Paris and the NDR studios in March 2010; and will be presented again by the Barcelona Jazz Festival in November 2010 at that city's famous Palau Música Catalana, with Jaques Morelenbaum conducting.

New performing pursuits include a trio with noted Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu and master Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu. Notable video productions include Light In The Sky, filmed in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and directed by Aitor Echeverria (from the 2008 CD release Afreecanos), and the recent DVD release of Omar Sosa's 2007 Java Jazz Festival performance in Jakarta, Indonesia. For film and television, Omar Sosa collaborated in 2008 on the soundtrack for the PBS documentary, The Judge and the General; and completed the soundtrack for the 2010 film The Last Flight of the Flamingo, produced by Fado Filmes in Lisbon, Portugal, and based on Mia Couto's famous novel about Mozambique. Mr. Sosa also contributed a musical excerpt to the 2006 Andy Garcia film, The Lost City.

In 2011, Omar released his fifth solo piano recording, Calma, which received a Latin GRAMMY nomination. Featuring Omar's unique and original approach to the genre, the CD is comprised of 13 solo piano improvisations, fusing stylistic elements of jazz, classical new music, ambient, and electronica. In January 2012, Omar collaborated with celebrated Italian trumpet and flugelhorn player, Paolo Fresu, on the release of Alma. The CD features guest cello contributions on four tracks by the masterful Brazilian conductor, arranger, producer, and cellist, Jaques Morelenbaum. Produced by Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa for Mr. Fresu's label imprint, Tuk Music, the compositions are written by Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu, except for Under African Skies, a gentle version of the popular track from the Paul Simon CD, Graceland. Omar Sosa's next studio album, “Eggun: The Afri-Lectric Experience”, is set for release worldwide in February 2013. Eggun, in the West African spiritual practice of Ifa and its various expressions throughout the African Diaspora, are the spirits of those who have gone before us, both in our personal families and those who serve as our spiritual guides.

The Omar Sosa Afri-Lectric Experience began as a commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival in 2009. The assignment: to compose and produce a tribute performance to Miles Davis' classic Kind Of Blue recording on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Inspired by various musical elements and motifs from Kind Of Blue, Omar wrote a suite of music honoring the spirit of freedom in Davis' seminal work. Featuring trumpet and two saxophones, Eggun provides a medium for musical elements from Africa to shape and develop the music, and the resulting jazz textures are further enriched by the subtle and expressive use of electronic elements. At the heart of the recording is the spirit of Mother Africa. Following the success of the Kind Of Blue commission, Omar began to include the new arrangements into the repertoire of his regular touring ensemble, resulting in the creation of the The Afri-Lectric Experience. The featured horn players are Joo Kraus on trumpet (from Germany), Leandro Saint-Hill on saxophones and flute (from Cuba), and Peter Apfelbaum on saxophones and percussion (from U.S.A.). Omar's longtime rhythm section of Marque Gilmore on drums (from U.S.A.) and Childo Tomas on electric bass (from Mozambique) create the foundation. Special guests on the project include Lionel Loueke on guitars (from Benin), Marvin Sewell on guitars (from U.S.A.), Pedro Martinez on Afro-Cuban percussion (from Cuba), John Santos on percussion (from U.S.A.) and Gustavo Ovalles on Afro-Venezuelan percussion (from Venezuela). The CD was recorded primarily in Brooklyn, NY.

In January 2014, Omar released his 5th solo piano recording, Senses. It was created at EMPAC, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Omar was invited to an artist residency at EMPAC in 2012 by Zimbabwean dancer / choreographer Nora Chipaumire to compose music for Nora’s dance-theater piece, Miriam. The sound score for Miriam received a BESSIE Nomination for a New York Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Musical Composition / Sound Design. In March 2015, Omar released a CD with his Quarteto AfroCubano, entitled Ilé. This recording marked a homecoming for Omar to his formative years in late ‘80s and early ‘90s Havana. Ilé means home, or earth, in the Lucumí tradition to his of Cuba, derived from the Yoruba language of West Africa, and it is to the Latin Jazz roots of his native Cuba that Omar returns for inspiration on this new CD. Joining him on the project are three musicians with whom Omar shares a close connection: fellow Camagüeyanos, Ernesto Simpson on drums, and Leandro Saint-Hill on alto saxophone, flute and clarinet, and Mozambican electric electic bassist Childo Tomas – collectively known as Quarteto AfroCubano. These musicians speak the same musical language, using their Cuban and African traditions as a springboard for creative freedom.

Upcoming recording projects for Omar Sosa include a unique collaboration with Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita and Chinese sheng player Wu Tong, entitled Transparent Water, which was released in February 2017; a second CD production with Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu, following their 2012 release, Alma, featuring Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, entitled Eros, and set for release in May 2016; and a follow-up CD with the NDR Bigband, featuring arrangements again by Jaques Morelenbaum, entitled Es:sensual, was released in Germany in early 2017. New touring projects for Omar Sosa include JOG Trio, featuring award-winning German trumpet player Joo Kraus, and folkloric Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Their CD, entitled JOG, was released in GAS, Poland, Benelux and Scandinavia in October 2015 by Hamburg-based SKIP Records. A co-leader project with tenor saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart from Guadeloupe, entitled Creole Spirits, was launched in April 2016 with a creation residency in Guadeloupe. This gathering resulted in an EPK video produced by noted French filmmaker Frank Cassenti.

Omar’s second CD with the NDR Bigband, “Es:sensual”, was released in the U.S. and Japan, et al, in January 2018, with arrangements again by noted Brazilian master, Jaques Morelenbaum, and featuring a number of Omar’s signature compositions, “Cha Cha du Nord”, and “My Three Notes”. In October 2018, Omar and violinist-vocalist Yilian Cañizares released Aguas, a very beautiful and personal album.  Featuring their compatriot, percussionist Inor Sotolongo, Aguas reflects the perspectives of two generations of Cuban artists living outside their homeland, interpreting their roots and traditions in subtle and unique ways.  Songs range from the poignant to the exuberant, and are expressive of the exceptional musical chemistry, poetic sensibilities, and originality of the artists.

The material on Aguas is an inventive and engaging mix of the artists’ Afro-Cuban roots, Western classical music, and jazz. The album is dedicated to Water, and especially to Oshun, the Goddess of Love and Mistress of Rivers in the Lucumí tradition of Yoruba ancestry known in Cuba as Santería – a spiritual practice important to both artists. As water is synonymous with life, and energy, and strength, and space, the music of the album is inspired by the important influences of water – its hidden powers, its infinite transmutations, and its relentless creation. There is a sense, as well, for Omar and Yilian, of how water represents both separation from, and nostalgia for, the land of their birth. Omar and Yilian will be doing a CD release tour in the Fall of 2018, in Trio with folkloric Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Highlights include a London Jazz Festival show at the Barbican, an NDR 60th Anniversary concert at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and two nights at Bal Blomet in Paris.




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Eggun, in the West African spiritual practice of Ifá and its various expressions throughout the African Diaspora, are the spirits of those whohave gone before us, both in our immediate families and those who serve as our Spirit guides.

Eggun: The Afri-Lectric Experience began as an Omar Sosa commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival in 2009. The assignment: to compose and produce a tribute performance to Miles Davis’ classic recording, Kind Of Blue, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Inspired by various musical elements and motifs from Kind Of Blue, Omar wrote a suite of music honoring the spirit of freedom in Davis’ seminal work. Featuring trumpet and two saxophones, Eggun provides a medium for musical elements from Africa to shape and develop the music. The resulting jazz textures are further enhanced by the subtle and expressive use of electronic elements. At the heart of the recording is the spirit of Mother Africa.

Eggun essentially derives from the melodic cells of Kind of Blue’s solos and has the aim of honoring that record, which, let’s say it once more, is hardly known in spite of having been used and abused. Eggun is like all of Sosa’s works, an invitation to a journey plentiful with luxury, peace and sensuality (thanks, Baudelaire!). We have a welcome with Alejet – whitein Arabic – and El Alba. All the sounds of the African diaspora – where Moroccan bendir meets Dominican merengue and Puerto Rican plena: So All Freddie. The interludes, almost sacred invocations to the genius of Bill Evans. And a passionate desperation in the finale, as in records conceived the old way, like a narrative, followed by the final rest, grace in a religious sense, like an overflowing energy which at the end of the journey becomes pure togetherness.

Omar Sosa - Eggun      (flac  432mb)

01 Alejet 7:26
02 El Alba 8:49
03 Interludio I 0:56
04 Alternativo Sketches 9:04
05 Interludio II 0:36
06 Madre Mia 8:47
07 Interludio III 0:50
08 So All Freddie 8:23
09 Interludio IV 0:57
10 Rumba Connection 9:19
11 Interludio V 1:05
12 Angustiado 7:42
13 Angustiado Reprise 2:43
14 Interludio VI 0:33
15 Calling Eggun 6:22

Omar Sosa - Eggun  (ogg    181mb)

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Since he emigrated from Cuba in 1993, Omar Sosa has forged a distinctive musical path, fusing an array of jazz, world music, hip-hop, and electronic elements with his Afro-Cuban roots. Omar’s newest recording, ilé, marks a homecoming for the 7-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist and composer to the Latin Jazz influences of his formative years in late ‘80s and early ‘90s Havana. During this period, Omar savored the music of Pancho Quinto, Lázaro Ros, Rubén González, Machito, Benny Moré, Arsenio, Cachao, Lili Martinez, Peruchin, Chucho Valdés, and Irakere. Ilé means homeland in the Lucumí tradition of Cuba, derived from the Yoruba language of West Africa, and it is to the Latin Jazz roots of his native Cuba that Omar returns for inspiration on this new studio recording.

Joining him on the project are three musicians with whom Omar shares a close connection: fellow Camagüeyanos, Ernesto Simpson on drums, and Leandro Saint-Hill on alto saxophone, flute and clarinet, and Mozambican electric electic bassist Childo Tomas – collectively known as Quarteto AfroCubano. These musicians speak the same musical language, using their Cuban and African traditions as a springboard for creative freedom. Ilé offers contemporary interpretations of some of the classic Cuban musical styles the world has come to admire. Listeners will enjoy a mix of ballads and sophisticated mid and up tempo arrangements. Also included is a set of four atmospheric interludes, featuring traditional music samples combined with improvised piano and soprano saxophone accompaniment.

 Omar Sosa y Quarteto AfroCubano - Ile    (flac  355mb)

01 A Love Lost 5:32
02 Momento I 2:30
03 4U 4:00
04 Mentiras Enemigas 4:55
05 Momento II 4:05
06 D Vuelta 3:18
07 Old Afro A Baba 7:40
08 Dame Da Luz 5:25
09 Momento III 3:11
10 Sad Meeting 5:44
11 Momento IV 3:20
12 La Tarde 4:25
13 Mi Conga 5:52
14 A Love Lost Repreise 4:17

Omar Sosa y Quarteto AfroCubano - Ile  (ogg  158mb)

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For many, Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu have helped change the way we listen to music. Their new Duo CD, EROS, brings us beyond listening, into the realm of heart and soul and empathy. This album follows the success of their debut CD, ALMA, in 2012, and four years of distinguished international touring. Today one of the most beloved Duos in Europe, Omar and Paolo’s unique and distinctive musical voices combine traditional and progressive musical elements from Cuba and Italy. They are both master musicians with illustrious careers, bent on expanding musical boundaries and exploring new cultures.

EROS is further proof of their artistic maturity. It is a deep and consistent work, dedicated to the many facets and mysteries of love. Sosa and Fresu have composed a suite of new songs inspired by the human emotions that lead beauty into the divine. The project is enriched by cello contributions from Brazilian master Jaques Morelenbaum (who was also a guest on ALMA), from the enchanting Maghreb singer Natacha Atlas (who creates a luminous Arab version of Teardrop by Massive Attack), and from the Italian Alborada String Quartet (who have graced many projects in the Fresu discography).

Like ALMA, EROS delves deeply into the energy, poetry, and spirituality of the Duo’s special musical chemistry. We find Sosa and Fresu dancing in a Latin mode around a winning mix of jazz, Cuban, African, and world music elements. The album takes a polyphonic approach, the Duo curating sonic landscapes with great care and sensitivity – as we also find in their bright and extraordinary live performances..

 Paolo Fresu y Omar Sosa - Eros    (flac  394mb)

01 Sunrise 3:47
02 Absence 4:00
03 Walking Together 3:38
04 Esperanza 5:23
05 Innocence 3:25
06 Oasis 3:10
07 Aguas 3:37
08 Looking Within 5:02
09 Dance Of Reflection 3:45
10 Autumn Flowers 3:33
11 Reposo 3:31
12 Madre 3:18
13 Sunset 4:05

Paolo Fresu y Omar Sosa - Eros    (ogg  165mb)

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Transparent Water is the new studio collaboration between 7-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist-composer-bandleader Omar Sosa and London-based Senegalese singer and kora master Seckou Keita.  Given their respective touring and recording schedules, it took a year, but in July 2013 Omar and Seckou went into the Fattoria Musica recording studio in Osnabrück, Germany and laid down the core tracks for Transparent Water. Another chance meeting informs Transparent Water:  in April 2013, Galician bagpiper-pianist-composer Cristina Pato invited Omar to Santiago de Compostela, where Pato hosts an annual residency frequented by associates of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.  There Omar met Silk Road charter member and sheng master Wu Tong, whom Omar was moved to bring into the project.  In connection with a concert date in Shanghai in July 2014, Omar arranged a side trip to Beijing to record Wu Tong’s traditional flute overdubs.

Tokyo-born, Paris-based koto player Mieko Miyazaki came to Omar’s attention via her recorded work with French jazz guitarist Nguyên Lê.  When Omar finally had the chance to meet her, Mieko’s creative spirit utterly impressed him, and he enlisted her distinctive voice for Transparent Water. For percussion, Omar turned to longtime collaborator Gustavo Ovalles, who divides his time between France and his native Venezuela.  Ovalles (who can be heard on three prior Sosa projects—Sentir, Ayaguna, and Egg?n) brings the polyrhythmic soul of the African Diaspora to Transparent Water. Paris-based drummer-producer Steve Argüelles crafted the mix with Omar, having previously worked on Sosa’s award-winning Mulatos and Afreecanos CDs.

Transparent Water is the latest example of Omar Sosa’s transcendent determination to seek new combinations, a manifestation of improvisatory freedom wherein the musical destination is subordinate to the extemporaneous joy of shared artistic expression. Omar observes that, as he did with Sentir, “What I wanted to do was create something totally improvised.” Transparent Water—suggestive of translucence and flowing light—is a deeply spiritual recording that reveals its inspiration in the close and compassionate listening of artists engaged in a genial and captivating musical conversation, liberated from time itself, reaching across five continents to probe the collective spirit of the human condition.

Omar Sosa y Seckou Keita - Transparent Water    (flac  259mb)

01 S'Inguldu 5:35
02 Inverno Grigio 5:28
03 No Trance 3:36
04 Alma 5:49
05 Angustia 4:34
06 Crepuscolo 3:15
07 Moon On The Sky 5:59
08 Old D Blues 6:36
09 Medley: Niños 4:00
10 Nenia 5:23
11 Under African Skies 7:28
12 Rimanere Grande! 2:58

Omar Sosa y Seckou Keita - Transparent Water  (ogg  136mb)

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