Omar Sosa has always been passionately interested in exploring African musical cultures and their connections with his own Afro-Cuban roots. He excels in the delicate art of blending traditional and contemporary sounds. Over time, he has established collaborations with Gnawa musicians in Morocco and built musdical bridges with Senegal, Mozambique, Mali, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil and South Africa. These musical affinities and encounters are recorded on the albums Sentir with the Moroccan El Houssaine Kili (2002), Afreecanos (2008) with Mola Sylla, Childo Tomas and Baba Sissoko, which served as the starting point for this journey in East Africa, and more recently Transparent Water with Seckou Keita (2017).
During the Afreecanos tour in East Africa in 2009, Omar wanted to meet local traditional singers and musicians who played string instruments. The organisation Cultures France (now the Institut Français) facilitated these meetings and this enabled him to record the basic tracks for An East African Journey. The album includes sessions recorded in Madagascar with Rajery, in Kenya with Olith Ratego, in Sudan, in Ethiopia with Seleshe Damessae, in Burundi with Steven Sogo, in Zambia and in Mauritius with Menwar. Completed by new sessions in Paris in 2019 with the co-producer of the album Steve Argüelles on drums and Christophe “Disco” Minck on double bass, An East African Journey will be a landmark in Omar Sosa’s discography. The Cuban, surrounded by fabulous musicians, has added some of the buried mysteries of African tradition to his unique mystical groove.
« Sosa is one of the truly illuminated minds in world jazz. »
BILLBOARD (US)
« If you like classy world-jazz-fusion, this is for you. »
SONGLINES (UK)
« Solar and intimate, glowing with dancing reflections, An East African Journey gathers moments of pure musical happiness. »
LE MONDE (FR)
« Joyful wanderings that combine groove and mystery. »
TELERAMA (FR)
« An extraordinary journey and a communion between contemporary jazz and traditional African music. »
FIP – RADIO FRANCE (FR)
« Each track has its share of intrigue, provides a change of scenery and is frankly original. With, as continuous support, these magnificent piano scores performed by Omar Sosa. Captivating all the way through. »
JAZZ MANIA (BE)
« On ‘An East African Journey’, Cuban (world) jazz pianist Omar Sosa goes searching for his Afro-Cuban roots. He worked together with a whole range of musicians and vocalists from the East African coast, from Ethiopia to Madagascar. It has resulted in this equally fascinating and varied album. »
HEAVEN MUSIC MAGAZINE (NL)
« For years Omar Sosa has been an excellent world musician who does not mind about music boundaries. Instead, he explores the edges. And that makes his CD An East African Journey again such a Sosa recommendation! »
MUSIC FRAMES (NL)
« Each track has its own traditional atmosphere. In this way, like a musical anthropologist,
Omar Sosa unlocks the traditional music of East Africa to the rest of the world. Extraordinarily commendable! »
MIXED WORLD MUSIC (NL)
« With Omar Sosa through East Africa…A really great album! »
WOXX (NL)
« …a multiplicity of styles and accents, in which folk and jazz fertilise each other… »
ROOTSTIME (NL)
« Cuban keyboard player and singer Omar Sosa has translated the long exploration
of his cultural roots into a musical journey through East Africa. A fascinating journey that leads through Madagascar, Kenya, Burundi and Sudan, among other places, and brings back excitingly complex and surprising melodies and rhythms as a souvenir. Just like a few blood-curdlingly beautiful samples that Sosa kept from an actual trip twelve years ago. »
TROUW (NL)
« Enchanting musical trip that takes you to the best that East Africa has to offer! »
TROPICALIDAD (NL)
« A personal pilgrimage by Sosa to the African origins of his Afro-Cuban roots. Respect for the way in which Sosa was able to preserve the authenticity of the various sources but was still able to add his own musical experiences. »
JAZZ HALO (NL)
« All amazingly funky and groovy, with a maximum of diversity in tone and tempo. »
JAZZISM (NL)
Contacts:
BOOKING : Franck Feret
franck.feret@jmp.fr
+334 67 59 74 97
MDC : Maggie Doherty
maggie.doherty@music-mdc.com
+331 42 01 95 36
