This marvellous music was created during rehearsals for a Havana Cultura tour, at the legendary Egrem studios in Havana which have seen some of the greatest sessions ever recorded by Cuban musicians. Given this daunting task, Danay Suarez rises to the challenge and this album reveals her to be one of the most talented singers to come out of Cuba in the last 10 years. When paired with the brilliant pianist Roberto Fonseca the results are stunning.
Each of these 4 extended tracks (almost an hour of music) give the artists room to spread their musical wings and soar. The songs range from complex Latin jazz to delicate lament, from cool classic son to energetic rumba, each piece played with a sense of adventure and exploration.
The opening - and key - track ‘Ser o no ser’ is a deep and funky improvisation over a classic Fonseca hypnotic baseline. Danay’s singing is by turns soulful, jazzy and vulnerable as she wrings out every emotion possible from the song, even laughing out loud at one point. ‘Hay un lugar’ is full of delicate regret with both Danay and Fonseca at their most romantic. ‘Guajira’ is a quite brilliant take on the old classic, a dark and almost nightmarish journey through lost love, haunted by the ghosts of old soneros. The final track is a stunning Afro-jazz piece where Danay takes on the power of goddess Yemaya, almost drowning in the music created by this exceptional four piece band.
This is, to my ears, by far the best music to come out of the Havana Cultura sessions and amongst the most vital to emerge from Cuba during the last decade. It is to Gilles Peterson’s credit that these quite phenomenal artists were given the time and space to reveal their talents fully and revel in the sheer joy of music making.
Almost defying categorization, this album is an essential purchase for all music lovers and sits comfortably alongside the other greats of Cuban music.
Dave Willetts
