Podcast: Out Of Africa #17

In this show, we travel through the sounds of fado, desert blues, afro-Cuban jazz, afro-Cuban, afrobeat, Arabic reggae, and reggae! We kick off the show with the melancholic voice of Mariza, from Portugal, in “Quem me Dera”, a song was written for her by the Angolan singer-songwriter Matias Damásio. We…

Artists: A-Wa , Alborosie , Ballaké Cissoko , Brand New Wayo , Charles Aznavour , Daymé Arocena , Fatoumata Diawara , Jacques Brel , Marcia Griffiths , Mariza , Matias Damásio , Monomono , Nahawa Doumbia , Neissatou , Nikkle Mai , Peter King , Rokia Traoré , Segun Robert , Sona Jobarteh , Yaaba Funk

Daymé Arocena – Cubafonia [Brownswood Recordings, 10th March 2017]

Caribbean societies are often subject to a certain gaze, in search of exotica. The cultural region’s best musicians are those who break with fulfilling the expectations of such a gaze, and produce music rooted in artistry. Daymé Arocena is such a musician, and with Cubafonia, invites us into the realm…

Artists: Daymé Arocena

Album Review: Gilles Peterson: Havana Cultura Anthology [Brownswood Recordings, 2nd December 2016]

This is the ‘anthology’ of modern Cuban music that embodies the diversity of a new generation of artists beyond the Buena Vista Social Club legacy. This is also the ‘anthology’ that embraces a good number of Afro-Caribbean rhythms – son, salsa, reggaeton, hip-hop, Latin jazz, among many others – linked…

Artists: Chillum Trio , Daymé Arocena , Elain Morales , Etian Brebaje Man , Francis del Rio , Gilles Peterson , Kerkstra , Los Aldeanos , Mala , Mayra Caridad Valdés , Ogguere , Sexto Sentido , Silvito el Libre , Telmary Diaz , Vince Vella

Review: Winter Jazzfest 2017 (New York, U.S. – 5th to 10th January 2017)

Despite jazz’s being born to warm weather New Orleans, a city full of “elaborate wedding-cake ceilings, wide sliding doors, tall French windows” to quote New Orleans native Truman Capote, the music has always adapted itself to cold weather living pretty well. If a life of surrounding swamps, deltas, briar patches,…

Artists: Arturo O’Farrill , David Virelles , Daymé Arocena , Ilhan Ersahin , Imany , Julien Labro Quartet , Michael Formanek Quartet , Ravi Coltrane , Somi

Interview: Daymé Arocena (April 2016)

Usually it would be rude to reveal a woman’s age, but there are always exceptions. Especially when it comes to an impressive young musician, composer, arranger and choir director who, at the age of 24, has already released two albums, toured the world, signed for Gilles Peterson’s label Brownswood Recordings,…

Artists: Daymé Arocena

Preview: La Linea Festival (London, 17th – 28th April 2016)

As it’s happening since 2001, for ten days in April, London sounds and plays Latino. The responsibility rests on ¡COMO NO! which, 15 years ago, started to organise one of the most chéveres Festivals of the London music scene. La Linea has indeed brought to the British capital some of the finest,…

Artists: A Guy Called Gerald , Ana Moura , Ariwo , Baloji , Calexico , Chico Trujillo , Criolo , Daymé Arocena , La Yegros