By Iminza Keboge
Published January 27, 2021
A set of exquisite world music recordings featuring traditional sounds from eastern Africa is set for release in March 2021.
Titled Omar Sosa: An East African Journey, the hour-long album features singing with traditional African instruments, including Kenya’s nyatiti, Zambia’s kalumbu, Madagascar’s marovanny and lokanga and Burundi’s umuduri.
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Artists who appear on An East African Journey include Kenya’s Olith Ratego (Musa Odhiambo omondi), Madagascar’s Rajery and Monja Mahafay, Zambia’s Abel Ntalasha, Burundi’s Steven Sogo, Ethiopia’s Seleshe Damessae, Sudan’s Dafaalla Elhag Ali and Menwar from Mauritius.
This album, that combines subtle touches of jazz and Western classical music and carries instrumental pieces besides the traditional sounds, is a result of a tour of seven countries over a 10-year period by Omar Sosa, a 7-time Grammy Award-nominated jazz pianist.
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Saying Omar Sosa: An East African Journey “is the realisation of a deeply personal musical pilgrimage by an artist who throughout his career has been passionately interested in exploring African musical cultures and their connections with his own Afro-Cuban roots,” publicist Tamsin Davies of Britain says it was in 2009 that “Omar Sosa embarked on a concert tour of East African nations with his Afreecanos Trio consisting of Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla and Mozambican bassist Childo Tomas. The tour was supported by the French government (Culture France), and many of the concerts were held at Alliance Française locations. Stops were made in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Sudan, Burundi, Zambia, and Mauritius. Along the way, by arrangement in advance, Omar met and collaborated with local, folkloric musicians and, with the help of his sound engineer on the tour, Patrick Destandeau, recorded the artists with a portable digital recording system.”
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A decade later, Omar Sosa has produced and arranged the ‘field recordings’ with the subtle addition of acoustic piano, percussion, keyboard-bass, and harp. This work was done in Paris, with the involvement of producer-drummer Steve Argüelles and multi-instrumentalist Christophe ‘Disco’ Minck.
Accompanying the album that is set for release on March 5 is SOUVENIRS D’AFRIQQUEA, a 52-minute documentary directed by Olivier Taïeb on Omar Sosa’s experience during his music tour of Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Burundi.It was shot by Barking Dog Productions of Paris and produced by Amos Rozenberg.
Omar Sosa – An East African Journey releases worldwide on CD on the March 5, 2021 on OTA Records.
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