Omar Sosa Suba Trio at SFJAZZ Center

Omar Sosa Suba Trio
SFJAZZ Center
San Francisco, CA
March 8, 2026

Pianist and composer Omar Sosa saved something very special for the fourth and final evening performance of his SFJAZZ Center residency, his second for the institution. In mid-2012, Sosa had encountered London-based Senegalese kora master and singer Seckou Keita at a recording session there. They began jamming, which led to the genesis of what was to be a sustained musical collaboration. This led, in turn, to the albums Transparent Water (Otá Records, 2017) and SUBA (Bendigedig, 2021). Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles—who plays instruments including tuning forks, tom-toms, maracas, Bata drums, congas, bongos, cajon, culo e' puya, quitiplás (bamboo tubing), maracas, and calabash—serves to glue it all together.

Sosa is no stranger to San Francisco, having lived here in the 1990s before relocating to Barcelona. The previous evening he had performed with the local musicians who comprise his Quarteto Americanos. This evening the Suba Trio presented an improvisation-laden eight pieces. All but one were from SUBA. The evening began with Sosa intoning the lyrics of "Maan," a tribute to mothers in which the singer's grandmother is exhorted to dance:

Nané djija maam julo kunbeng maam boy

(Grandma come and move to the beat.)

His fellow musicians, all clad in white, took the stage and joined in with the musical creation. Keita carried on a back-and-forth repartee. Sosa turned to his Yamaha Montage 8 keyboard, pumping foot pedals on it and on the Yamaha CFX grand piano. Gustavo played his hand drums.

Sosa's piano introduced a meditative tone for "Drops of Sunrise," whose lyrics are in Wolof and Mandinka. An enthused kora-picking Keita offered up "The sun has risen/Bringing blessings and peace." While Sosa added synthesized tonalities, Ovalles used his bata drums. One audience member danced in front of his seat above the stage.

This all went on for several more tunes and a total of fifty minutes from the concert's start before the lights came up and Sosa called the band. An extended call-and-response then ensued, with the entire audience on their feet. Sosa danced onstage with Keita. Ovalles presented a solo on maracas and eventually went to town on his two bata drums. He also used his bamboo tubes, pounding them on a platform, and employed his culo e' puya, a tall and slender drum whose lineage comes from the Kongo. Late in the concert, Ovalles dipped brass bells in a container of water and ran his hands through the water to create percussive effects.

The lyrical "Voices on the Sea" concluded the two hours of music.