Wednesday 26 April 2017

Cubafonía by Daymé Arocena


Daymé Arocena’s outstanding second album, Cubafonía, can be summed up in two words: maturity and intensity. The former can be evidenced in her approach to song-writing and arranging. It is bold and with a take-no-prisoners attitude. Opener Eleggua combines multi-layered vocals with looped bass and horns. This is followed by a lively party number, La Rumba Soy Yo. Scatting her way through parts of the song, Daymé reminds the listener that she is a pretty good jazz singer in her own right.

The intensity is found throughout the record, mainly in the first six tracks.  Lo Que Fue builds up slowly, starting with Daymé’s signature low rasp and ending with a Cuban descarga. Maybe Tomorrow (sung in English) deals with hope. Infectious Negra Caridad is a throwback to Cuba’s 1940s and 50s big band golden era. That a 24-year-old can hold her own belting tunes that the great late Celia Cruz took years to master, speaks volumes about Arocena’s standing in the Cuban musical scene at the moment.

The largest island of the Caribbean has always been a hotbed of creativity. However, for the last twenty-odd years the sounds coming out of my country of birth are more boundary-breaking and genre-defying than ever. Daymé joins Roberto Fonseca, Yusa, Danay Suárez and Telmary in the search for an identity which, although still recognisably Cuban, is not afraid to draw from other influences. A good example of this is Cómo, a ballad that would not be out of place in a record by Jill Scott. Performed confidently in both English and Spanish, the track shows off Arocena’s softer and more reflective side.

Special mention to Ángel, a minimalist composition (pared back percussion and piano) in which Daymé demonstrates a total vocal control. And also to the closer, Valentine (in which the chanteuse goes from English to French, to Spanish), a cute changüi number.

Cubafonía is a must-have for any jazz/Latin music aficionado. On the strength of this outing, I can only see a brighter future for Daymé Arocena.



© 2017

Next Post: “One-Minute Cycle Diaries”, to be published on Saturday 29th April at 6pm (GMT)

16 comments:

  1. Oh joy - we can always rely on you to introduce us to wonderful music! Thanks for this.

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  2. This is great, thank you so much for sharing the music. And I love your header!

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  3. I like the beat--wonderful music

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  4. It's engaging and totally captivating music.

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  5. Wow, I think I should listen to this every morning.
    And the video? Loved it!!

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  6. An interesting sound, but Bach, Blackmore and the Schenker brothers pretty much cover the extent of my musical range ....

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  7. I will have to look for this. Until now the only Cuban music I knew of was performed by Desi Arnaz. I guess I'm dating my age here.

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  8. Brilliant. I'm breathless after jigging to this lovely music - and what a voice, eh?

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  9. Sure can suck one in as we give it a spin.

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  10. I don't know her! I'll have to listen on iTunes...

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  11. Maturity and intensity combination is good. I will listen to her.

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  12. Lovely music and I like the opening of the video too! I see you've updated your banner image. I bet you've enjoyed the gorgeous April biking weather. Let me know if you pedal as far as Oxford.

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  13. Great music and a wonderful album cover!

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  14. Feel like dancing!

    Big hugs and happy weekend to you and family:)

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