AFROCUBISM

It’s not always a disaster when plans go astray. Fourteen years after the celebrated sessions in Havana that gave rise to the Buena Vista Social Club, AfroCubism is a re-imagining of how that record might have sounded if the original idea of a collaboration between Malian and Cuban musicians had worked out. In the event, the Malians didn’t arrive, so the project became almost purely Cuban, and spawned the eponymous mega-hit. Of course, many of those involved are sadly no longer with us. Even so, AfroCubism brings together core members of the originally envisaged group with several Mali-based luminaries. Although the material is equally divided between the two cultures, the predominant ambience of AfroCubism is West African. In fact, the sound and arrangements often recall the lovely instrumental album Ballad of Manding (2007) by the inexplicably obscure guitarist and ngoni player Zoumana Diarra. The best-known figure on AfroCubism – and arguably the read more...