A merging of sounds was created from diverse regions of the world, as Cuban’s Omar Sosa was joined by Senegalian Seckou Keita on the kora and percussionist Gustavo Ovalles from Venezuela. What united these three artists was a musical tribute to the fundamental element of our planet, water, as songs from Sosa’s evocative album Transparent Water filled the Moss Theatre with celebration and joy for one of God’s gift to mankind.
Opening with Ovalles giving an evening dedication in an reverently echoed sermonette, his bata drums rumbled with Keita’s celestial strings and Sosa’s piano with a chime that flowed like waves of love in a celebrative rhapsody. Seckou’s chiming pizzicato’d pluck and Sosa’s percussive piano flowed with a lilting cadence on “Dary” that evoked sparkling images of warm sunsets in the Sahel desert.
Sosa then popped the clutch like he was driving a ’57 Chevy along The Malecon in Havana as “Fatiliku” as Keita sang in his local language with Ovalles’ bongos chugging along to create a festive volcanic tidal wave the grooved with classic Cuban scintillation along with dashes of heat from the Inner Niger Delta. Switching to keyboards, Sosa upped the butanes and swayed back and forth in a ricocheting musical conversation with his two partners with the music swirling like a sandstorm in the Sahara.
Piano and kora then conversed, argued and yearned in a glorious duet during “Tama Tama” that concluded with musical cries to God before Keita got the audience to participate in a street festival “Mining Nah” that had he and Sosa hitting the floor for a boogaloo-ing rain dance. The three got into a red hot picante’ jam on “Zululand” that had Ovalles switching between a Talking Drum and various pieces of wood that go bump in the night, leading up to a frenzied joy.
Things closed in the same somber mood as it opened, with a flowing rural fountain flowing with water to remind us of the simple things in life that we should thank God for, and thank we did as Keita added praises on “Allah Lena.” The evening was a musical melding of cultures that took the appreciative audience on a musical journey from the mystical Dogon Cliffs to the majestic Angel Falls, all driven there in a Colectivo to Little Havana on an evening where all were united by a common link of drink.
Upcoming shows sponsored by The Jazz Bakery include Mary Stallings 03.19, Abdullah Ibrahim’s Ekaya Septet 03/30-31, Peter Erskine and Daniel Szabo’s Visionary 04/13, Kurt Rosenwinkel 04/20 and Tierney Sutton 04/28