Dayme Arocena - Nueva Era (2015) [Official Digital Download]

Daymé Arocena is an award-winning Afro-Cuban jazz singer from Havana, who has been described as Cuba's "finest young female singer". She won the 2015 Juno Award for the best jazz album, as a member of the jazz band Maqueque performing with Canadian musician Jane Bunnett. Arocena is on National Public Radio's list of 50 favourite albums of 2015, with the album "Nueva Era". Describing Arocena's voice, NPR host Felix Contreras called her "a cross between Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin", saying that Arocena's name "deserved to be alongside those two legendary voices".

This debut album by the 22 year-old Cuban singer, arranger and composer Daymé Arocena will come as a surprise to anyone expecting a familiar Caribbean latin-style repertoire of relentless percussion, chorus of male backing vocals, brass instruments, and so on. Arocena’s music is largely shorn of Spanish influence, rooted instead in a distinctly African heritage. In short, it’s a breath of fresh air, and Arocena is the most interesting female singer in the Spanish language I’ve heard since Concha Buika (although Arocena also sings in English and Yoruba). And despite her youth, she is already a mature composer and performer. Her rich, throaty singing style is passionate and declamatory, but never tiresome. On the contrary, she sings with great sensitivity and is able to convey an impressive range of emotions.

Gilles Peterson has apparently had her in his sights since she was a teenager, but decided to wait until now to record her for his label. The album was produced in London and Havana, mostly by Peterson’s long-time collaborator Simbad, who also co-wrote some of the tunes. The excellent, empathetic core musicians are all London-based, consisting of Rob Mitchell on piano, Neil Charles on double bass and Oli Savill on percussion, with a few other instruments making an appearance from time to time, notably organ and trumpet. But it’s the combination of Daymé Arocena’s solo and massed backing vocals that lie at the heart of this fine album.

Cuban music is famed for its syncretic riot of influences, but the album is in a genre of its own, seemingly constructed from jazz, choral and African music, but only the track El Ruso is identifiably in a vein one might recognise as ‘Cuban’. Especially striking is Arocena’s use of choral harmony, notably on the gorgeous title track, with its deep throbbing percussion, organ and hallucinogenic wash of voices. The opener Madres is another in which the call-and-response voices combine with the percussion and organ to evoke a hypnotic, other-worldly atmosphere. Much of this is apparently derived from the music of the Santeria religion, of which Arocena is a devotee, and which is traditionally conducted in the Yoruba language. At the other extreme is the enjoyable but rather brazenly commercial track Don’t Unplug My Body, which has already had some advance airplay.

Tracklist:

01 - Madres
02 - Drama
03 - Sin Empezar
04 - Don't Unplug My Body
05 - Dust
06 - Nueva Era
07 - Crystal
08 - El Ruso
09 - Nino
10 - Come to Me

Musicians:
Daymé Arocena - lead vocals, piano on "3", B3 Organ on "10"
Simbad - thumb piano, bass cajon, djembe, shakers, percussion, keyboards
Oli Savill - congas, cajon, shakers on "3"
Rob Mitchell - piano
Neil Charles - double bass
Yelfris Valdes - double bass on "4", trumpet on "7"
Julio Cesar Gispert - timbales on "8"
Omar Gonzalez - double bass on "8"
Miguel Angel de Armas - piano on "8"
Yasek Manzano - trumpet on "8"
Maria Julia Nuñez - percussion.


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