SUBA by Omar Sosa
The Atlantic Ocean separates Cuba and Senegal, the respective birthplaces of piano virtuoso Omar Sosa and kora maestro Seckou Keita, a distance diminished by their shared ancestral connection to Africa.
When the pair met in 2012, Seckou loved Omar for his musical spirituality, whilst Omar saw in Seckou a rare ability to collaborate but not lose his identity. Their debut album Transparent Water (2017) was hailed as ‘beautiful, rhapsodic… spiritual’ (Songlines) and ‘mesmerising, evocative and sophisticated’ (World Music Central).
Sosa has released over 30 albums during an incredible career that has included nominations for seven GRAMMY or Latin GRAMMY awards; Keita is a multi-award winner, most recently as the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year (2019). Recorded during lockdown and released in October 2021, Sosa and Keita’s second album SUBA is a hymn to hope, to a new dawn of compassion and real change in a post-pandemic world, a visceral reiteration of humanity’s perennial prayer for peace and unity. Joining Omar and Seckou in the studio and for live performances is the inimitable Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles.
Tracklist
| 1. | Kharit | 4:58 |
| 2. | ALLAH LÉNO | 4:54 |
| 3. | KoraSon | 3:13 |
| 4. | Drops of Sunrise | 4:39 |
| 5. | Gniri Balma | 3:44 |
| 6. | Voices on the Sea | 4:26 |
| 7. | 2020 Visions | 3:40 |
| 8. | Rei's Ray | 4:05 |
| 9. | Maam | 4:11 |
| 10. | Floating Boat | 4:36 |
| 11. | No One Knows | 5:34 |
Credits
All compositions written by Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita
© 2021 Sosafunke Music Publishing, BMI and © Seckou Keita, PRS
Produced by Omar Sosa, Seckou Keita, and Steve Argüelles
Basic tracks recorded at Fattoria Musica in Osnabrück, Germany
by Stephan van Wylick
Additional recording by Steve Argüelles at Plushspace, Paris, and
by Jacques Morelenbaum, Rio de Janeiro
Edited and mixed by Steve Argüelles at Plushspace, Paris
Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann, 4ohn Music, Berlin
Graphic design by Tamsin Davies
Photography by Andrés Pina (maybe others?)
Liner notes by Andy Morgan
Executive producers, Scott Price, Dilwyn Davies, Julia Beyer
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Composer, pianist, and bandleader Omar Sosa’s musical trajectory traces the Diaspora from Africa to Cuba and Brazil; from Central America to Ecuador’s African-descent communities; from San Francisco and New York to his current home base in Barcelona. True to his Afro-Cuban origins, Sosa fashions a spirited vision of uncompromising artistic generosity that embraces humanity at large.