Ayaguna [Import]

Omar Sosa | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ota Records
• ASIN: B000084TT4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,384 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Since the late '90s, Cuban-born pianist-composer Omar Sosa has created a body of work that's unified the far-flung musical forms of the African diaspora into an anthemic and ancestral aesthetic statement. Ayaguna, which is named for a god in the Santeria religion, was recorded live in Yokohama, Japan, in 2002. Sosa, who usually works in combos, has stripped down to a dynamic duo with the inventive Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Augmented by ambient effects, which create ethereal, fugue-like echoes that extend Sosa's drum-like piano lines, the pianist and the percussionist conjure up an incredible mélange of sacred and secular Afro-New World rhythms and sounds. Centered in an impressive array of instruments, which range from congas, bongos, and guiros to the Venezuelan bamboo sticks called quitiplas and cylindrical Culo'e Puya drums, Ovalles weaves a dizzying number of rhythms into surprisingly melodic statements. Sosa, in turn, converts the keyboard into 88 congas. Together, they blend and blur the line between folklore and fine art, especially on the turbo-charged "Toridanzon" and "Africa Madre Viva," the jazz-inflected "Trip in the White Scarf," and the moving and meditative "My Three Notes." The last track, an enhanced multimedia treatment of Sosa's ballad "Iwayo" produced by the London-based VJ team Yeast, adds another dimension to Sosa's sensual art. Eugene Holley, Jr.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Egberto and Nana ride again, February 9, 2004

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ayaguna (Audio CD)

OK, he doesn't play the guitar, but his piano playing bears a distinct resemblence to Egberto Gismonti's, the great Brazilian pianist and guitarist. Here, Gustavo Ovalles, a Venezuelan percussionist, plays Nana Vasconcelas to leader Cuban Omar Sosa's Egberto Gismonti.

Together, they have produced a disc every bit as enchanting as the Brazilians' Duas Vocez. Featuring the same deeply folkloric vibe, a similar percussive pianism, gorgeous lyricism, wide-ranging sound palettes for a duo recording, and some kind of impossibly deep world-jazz groove, these guys are the new standard bearers of cutting edge jazz beat.

A word about Omar Sosa. I've only heard one other complete disc from him, Portraits of Soul (see my Amazon review; I plan to obtain the remaining 11 discs of his as soon as I can lay my hands on the funds), but this guy is the most exciting world-jazz musician to come along since Egberto Gismonti, who, with Sanfona, had produced what I believe was the finest world-jazz disc until Portraits of Soul and with Sol Do Meio Dia, Danca Das Cabecas, Duas Vocez, Magico, and Folk Songs, had also produced the greatest body of world jazz yet.

From just listening to two of his discs, I believe Sosa is a serious challenger to Gismonti's legacy.

I'll be sending in more dispatches from the front after listening to Sendir, Bembon, Prietos, New Life, etc.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive and challenging, March 10, 2003

By 

Jess Row (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ayaguna (Audio CD)

I became interested in Omar Sosa after hearing his name associated with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, but frankly, it's hard to imagine two more different pianists coming out of the same Cuban tradition. Sosa's approach is percussive and jagged, sometimes at the expense of an identifiable melody--although he's not interested in abstraction as such. What keeps his music from being repetitive--here, at least--is the inventiveness of his accompanist, who provides an endlessly shifting texture of African/Afro-Cuban rhythms. It's a compelling statement about the contemporary African diaspora, in musical terms, and Sosa makes it clear in the liner "notes" that he's aiming for a sense of spiritual unity as well. Excellent work all around, and I'll be interested to see what else Sosa can do.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than Afro-Cuban, November 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ayaguna (Audio CD)

I got a copy of this fine disk on a whim, and was totally delighted from the start. It isn't Afro-Cuban (which I expected), but certainly incorporates many Cubano influences, especially in the multi-varied rhythms and percussion instruments throughout. More, the listener should expect to hear Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Poncho Sanchez, and a whole panoply of influential pianists and jazz musicians in this lovely recording by Omar Sosa.