New Omar Sosa CD "Afreecanos" Release Party

“Sosa is a creative original. I especially like how he works real jazz piano into the mix and how the flutes, ngoni, kora and quiet vocals defy expectations of a stereotypically hyper-rhythmic Black Atlantic, leaving us instead with an ocean of quiet beauty."
--Paul de Barros, Downbeat, March 2008

“Afreecanos leaves chops and gamesmanship in the background, opting instead for community and scope. It's an arranger's music. Singing, chanting, flutes, folksy string instruments, keyboards, trumpet, bluesy licks and a load of percussion - Afreecanos not only has a broad pallet, but a kaleidoscopic effect. View it one way and fervent voices offer prayer-like soliloquies while kora and kalimba interact in a gossamer dance. View it another and the chatter of Caribbean villagers grabs your ear. Turn it one more time and a battery of drums wafts through the air, lightly weaving messages of concord and connection."
--Jim Macnie, Downbeat, March 2008

“To these ears, Cuban pianist-turned-world traveler Omar Sosa came of age musically around the turn of the millennium, when he made a series of brilliant group recordings that fused some of the deepest roots of the New World African diaspora, including jazz. It was only logical that he would turn his attention directly toward the source, which he does with Afreecanos. Sosa works with over 20 international collaborators in various combinations to craft 11 tone poems, each celebrating aspects of “the same mother," built upon a vocal foundation (in Yoruba, Wolof, Candomble, and Mandingo). In one sense, these are straight-ahead songs, but the colorful percussion, rich instrumental layering, and Sosa's own keyboard and mallet musing make them much more than that. The open sentimentality manifested here still reflects the crisp, direct, intuitive connections he long ago mastered."
--Nils Jacobson, Global Rhythm, March 2008

Omar Sosa Afreecanos (OTA1019)
Contributing Artists: Produced by Steve Argelles; 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; Lzaro Galarraga (Cuba), vocals, bata; Fanta Cissoko (Senegal), vocals; Orestes Vilat (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.), bata; Bill Ortiz (U.S.A.), trumpet.