Mulatos
The Cuban keyboardist Omar Sosa is one of today's leading folkloric  futurists. His latest recording features TunisianoudmasterDhafer Youssef,  Anglo-Catalan drummer/turntablelist Steve Arguelles, and German bassistDieter Ilg. This date is  more electronic, midtempo, and, arguably, more accessible than his previous  projects. Sosa's rhythmic and reflective pianisms are accented by woodwinds,  African, Arabic, and East Indian percussion, and vocal samples which are propelled by  Afro-Cubanized jazz grooves. Special guestPaquito D'Rivera's pithy  clarinet solos spice up the club-friendly "Ternura," theclave-bhangrabeats of "Dos Caminos," and the Nuyoricancha-cha-cha, "Nuevo Manto."  If you can't figure out where Asia, Africa ,and America begin or end, that's  the point. As Sosa writes in his liner notes, the music is a "meeting  of cultures, a crossroads, a fusion of races and traditions."--Eugene  Holley, Jr.