Omar Sosa – Calma: Solo Piano &… (Otá Records – 2011)
If anything, Omar Sosa has always been a spiritual artist. Connected for generations with the practice of Santería, Sosa was surrounded by the worship together with a communion of saints, but in a truly Afro-centric manner. The particularly molten staccato of the batá drums has held sway in the melodic rhythms of his music. In fact, some of his finest earlier work has burst forth as out of a spiritual vortex shuffling with forthright swagger, churning in the thick, nervous rigors of Afro-Cuban song and worship. Though the majestic African rhythms have always characterized his music, Sosa also has a remarkable gift for lyricism and his music dances with diaphanous melodious grace melded into the grunting rhythms and warbling spiritual cries. But while this earthmoving spiritualism has driven Sosa’s compositions for years a side of him has remained almost bashfully hidden for a length of time. And this aspect of his music is now in flood in Calma, a sensational suite of loosely connected songs that seem to flow not from his fingers, but from somewhere deep within his soul.
Sosa’s mysticism seems to burn like a fire on a high mountain in what appears to be a continuous meditation towards attaining a Holy Grail. The dictates of his soul drive the languid flow of the music. The shuffle and jerk and tremulous shivers of the body are replaced by the rhythm of the heart, and this is a direct consequence of the consummation of rhythm with the nirvana of ecstatic melody. Even when, deep into the suite, the soft and sultry voices of what appear to be children make an intrusive entry into the meandering melodies and this is accompanied by the gentle rocking of gourds and shells, and the tapping of a batá, it is quiet, almost like a heated scalpel making swift cuts into burning flesh revealing some kind of ancient blood sacrifice. Mostly, however, it is the spontaneity of Sosa’s quiet mystical approach that provides the overriding joy of this album.
Throughout, Sosa is also singularly true to his rare gift of musicality and his flawless technique that the notes sing, pianissimo. This result is an unbroken line of music that dances both vertically as well as horizontally into a miraculous holistic piece that echoes with devotion to Sosa’s communion of saints, but in a new manner that fuses the intensity of Santería into a perfect melody of prayerful musical meditation. The power of “Esperanza” wrapping its arms in “Reposo” from “Sunrise” to “Sunset” as Sosa’s immaculate suite proceeds via all the things that he loves on earth as he proceeds on a solemn quest to attain the everlasting peace on the other side of life through music.
Track Listing:
1. Sunrise
2. Absence
3. Walking Together
4. Esperanza
5. Innocence
6. Oasis
7. Aguas
8. Looking Within
9. Dance of Reflection
10. Autumn Flowers
12. Reposo
13. Madre
14. Sunset
Personnel:
Omar Sosa: piano.
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Omar Sosa on the web: www.omarsosa.com/
Review written by: Raul da Gama
Omar Sosa & NDR Big Band – Ceremony (Otá Records – 2010)
Omar Sosa inhabits two worlds. One in which all humans live and the other is the spirit world. On Ceremony (Music arranged by Jaques Morelenbaum) a record that he made with the NDR Big Band, he has opened the door to both worlds. Moreover, with Jaques Morelenbaum’s masterful arrangements of his (Sosa’s) music these worlds are that much closer. Sosa has been crossing the threshold between this world and the spirit one for as long as he has been making music, probably longer. No matter. Omar Sosa’s music has always been at the heart of the séance, the medium that reaches through the threshold to the spirit world, beckoning the Orishas.
Of all the musicians performing in modern music—except perhaps the great Pharoah Sanders—Sosa appears to be the most powerful spiritual aura. His “red and black” is worn with grace, humility and the deepest sense of devotion, like John Coltrane, before him. Sosa was a herald for Elegba on Bembón (Otá, 2000), and many others including two of his strongest recordings, Sentir (Otá, 2002) and Tales from the Earth (Otá, 2009). In fact that last recording, with flutist, Mark Weinstein and guitarist, Jean Paul Bourelly appears to herald the performances on Ceremony to a certain extent. Although the music is scripted to a certain extent, for the benefit of the NDR Big Band, the unscripted solos are towering flights of fancy, especially on the part of the pianist, the percussionists, Morelenbaum, the brass, reeds and woodwinds. This is especially evident on “Monkurú” in the remarkable solo of alto saxophonist, Peter Bolte and in Sosa’s solo. There is also the amazing cello work by Morelenbaum on “Llegada Con Elegba” and Salida Con Elegba”.
However, unlike Sentir and Tales from the Earth, which are spiritual adventures, completely improvised, this new album, Ceremony appears to almost parallel a renaissance prayer book and elevate the practice of Santeria to a mostly scripted, almost papal affair. The score is majestic, almost heroic in parts like the music that characterized the Romantic era of two hundred years ago. This does not make it retrograde. On the other hand, Sosa’s music appears to inhabit a musical majesterium and it emerges from this lofty pulpit as if it were a fourth gospel, a score mapping the road to salvation through the resurrected Santeria worship.
In this respect the music transcends time, becoming instead a kind of ancient future that exists in its sonic moments that burst out of the proverbial door to the spirit world to which Sosa hold the key. Happily he will make more crossings bringing with him the peace of Elegba, or perhaps—if the inner ear is no longer in tune—the other nature of the Orishas, that which bring more strife, to this already grief-torn world. But if the message of Sosa’s music is anything to go by, it will be gentleness and peace.
Tracks: Llegada Con Elegba; Changó En Esmeraldas; Danzón De Tus Ojos; Yemaya En Agua Larga; Luz En El Cielo; Cha Con Marimba; Mi Tradición; Carambabá Monkurú Salida Con Elegba.
Personnel: Omar Sosa: piano, vibraphone, marimba, percussion; Jaques Morelenbaum: cello and all arrangements; Stephan Diez: guitar; Roland Cabezas: guitar; Lucas Lindbolm: bass; Childo Tomas: electric bass; Julio Barreto: drums; Marcio Doctor: percussion set; Marcos Hukán: batá drums, congas, cajón de rumba, guiro; Michael Spiro: batá drums, congas, chekere, timbal; NDR Big Band: Thorsten Benkenstein: trumpet; Ingolf Burkhardt: trumpet; Claus Stötter: trumpet; Reiner Winterschladen: trumpet; Stephan Meinberg: trumpets and flugelhorn (6, 7, 9); Torsten Maaß: trumpet and flugelhorn (6); Dan Gottschall: trombone; Klaus Heidenreich: trombone; Stefan Lottermann: trombone; Ingo Lahme: bass trombone, tuba; Günter Bollmann: trombone (2); Jon Welch: trombone (6, 7, 9); Fiete Felsch: soprano saxophone, flute, clarinet; Peter Bolte: alto saxophone, flute; Christof Lauer: soprano saxophone, clarinet; Lutz Büchner: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet; Frank Delle: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet.
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Omar Sosa on the web: www.omarsosa.com
Review written by: Raul da Gama
Mark Weinstein/Omar Sosa – Tales from the Earth (2009)
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Tales from the Earth (Otá Records) by flutist, Mark Weinstein and pianist and vibraphonist Omar Sosa is one of the most extraordinary musical expeditions in a long time. The need for a subscript is not necessary. The extraordinary depth and ethereal beauty of the music would suffice. Nevertheless, one that subscript becomes evident then the music touches parts of the body that much music might not. There is really no beginning and no end. To enter this musical continuum with eyes wide shut and to listen with the heart and soul and every pore of the being is essential.
Perhaps it is the result of a childhood epiphany, which Weinstein recalled years later. Like epic music that is worshipful and healing, profoundly hypnotic as an interminable dance, it simply skips and rushes, cartwheels and catapults. The notes and phrases are alive and breathe as they entwine into each other like gilded braid. One strain… an idea… then the voice of another world of music unfolding almost like an ocean tumbling in harness… Suddenly drums and kalimbas sing and with a rumble and thud quaking of the earth begin. Sadness flows as one of the darkest moments of human history is relived… then; not joy, but resignation—and peace. Such primeaval beauty in melody, harmonic and utterly exquisite polyrhythms… slicing through voices that meander in more melodic counterpoint.
Mark Weinstein probably imagined something like this all his life. However, it is pure chance brought the flutist together with guitarist extraordinaire, Jean Paul Bourelly and the piano wizard, Omar Sosa. The occasion was the Black Atlantic/Congo Square that Bourelly was organizing in Berlin in 2004. For Weinstein, the opportunity to play with these musicians as well as the bassist, Stan Michalak and the balaphon master Aly Keita was much the lure. Then the chilling subscript comes into play: The venue for the recording was the same building that was once the Ministry of Information during the Nazi era. For Mark Weinstein the project now must have been one by Divine design. The music reflects just that as none of the music was written. The music appears to have been dictated by a Divine muse and attendent spirits. Nothing else can explain the mesmerizing set that simply flows from track to track.
The heavenly suite opens with a brilliant, “Sunrise”—dawn aglow and alive with kalimba and brass percussion. The stage for the exorcism of pain is set by contrapuntal voices led by Aho Luc Nicaise and the musical healing begins. In this 14-part suite, unwritten yet unfolding with inspired beauty through each of its sections as it tracks the journey of the group—in a tale reminescent of the ancient Legend of Gilgamesh—until the musical expedition makes its Forest Journey” and River Crossing” there appears to be a real story unfolding here. It develops through “Praise” and the “Spirit Messenger,” who helps the musical travellers through the “Celebration” of lives lived… and pain left behind. This is Santeria… oxumare… soul sacrifice… worship… and finally true catharsis for Mark Weinstein and the whole Human Diaspora as the extraordinary improvised musical experience closes appropriately with “Gratitude.”
Tracks: Sunrise; Invocation; Walking Song; Tea Break; Forest Journey; River Crossing; Children at Play; Men’s Talk; Flirtation; Praise; Spirit Messenger; Celebration; Elders Speak; Gratitude.
Personnel: Mark Weinstein: concert alto and bass flutes; Omar Sosa: vibraphone, marimba, piano, percussion; Aly Keita: balafon; Jean Paul Bourelly: guitar; Stanislau Michalak: bass; Marque Gilmore: drums; Aho Luc Nicaise: lead vocals, percussion; Mathias Agbokou: vocals, percussion.
Mark Weinstein on the web: www.jazzfluteweinstein.com
Omar Sosa on the web: www.omarsosa.com
Review written by: Raul da Gama
