[TR24][OF] Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita - Transparent Water - 2017 (World Fusion, Ethnic Jazz)

Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita: Transparent Water
4 stars out 5
By Dan Bilawsky
February 20, 2017
Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita: Transparent Water Omar Sosa would make an excellent global ambassador. He seems to make friends and erase boundary lines wherever he goes. Back in 2012, the Cuban pianist connected with Senegalese kora guru Seckou Keita through a mutual musical associatedrummer Marque Gilmore. Sosa and Keita struck up a quick friendship at that initial meeting, ultimately leading to the creation of this radiant collaboration. They laid down the basic tracks for the project in 2013 and added some other worldly (and otherworldly) voices to the mix in the ensuing yearsWu Tong on sheng (Chinese mouth organ) and bawu (a Chinese free-reed aerophone), Mieko Miyazaki on koto, E'Joung-Ju on geomungo (a Korean zither), Mosin Khan Kawa on nagadi (hand drum), Dominique Huchet on bird effects, and Gustavo Ovalles on an assortment of percussion instruments. The resultant music is a conflation of sound and culture like no other.
Sosa's sonic signaturea unique fusion of African musical languages, Cuban parlance, jazz allusions, minimalism, new age spirituality, and blues tinged phraseologyis firmly stamped on this music. But this isn't his to own alone. Ten of the thirteen tracks were penned with Keita and all but two of these pieces feature one or more of the aforementioned guests. Each track speaks to the shared responsibilities of creation and every one of them offers an engrossing vista crafted with the utmost sensitivity to balance of the emotional and sonic varieties. Songs like "Recaredo" and "Black Dream" are introspective and absorbing, leaving the listener rapt on high after a single listen; "Mining-Nah" plays out like a pure expression of joy, emitting rays of light through sound; "Thiossane" is haunting and mournful, dancing slowly in doleful fashion; and "Peace Keeping" is an ominous sound painting saturated in midnight blue.
Those keen on analysis will be tempted to try to break this music down to its component parts, disentangle instruments, and assign strict definitions to what's happening here. That's not advised. Part of the magic in Sosa's music has always been his ability to operate behind the curtain, working the seam where music and magic coexist. His brand of sorcery remains one of his greatest gifts, and it continues to hold sway over every person and project he gets involved with. Trying to overthink or intellectualize this music would miss the point entirely. Better to just let the cross-cultural dialogue and musical spirituality of Transparent Water baptize the ears.
Track Listing: Dary; In The Forest; Black Dream; Mining-Nah; Tama-Tama; Another Prayer; Fatiliku; Oni Yalorde; Peace Keeping; Moro Yeye; Recaredo; Zululand; Thiossane.
Personnel: Omar Sosa: piano, Fender Rhodes, sampler, MicroKorg, vocals; Seckou Keita: kora, djembe, talking drum, sabar, vocals; Gustavo Ovalles: bata drums (10), culo'e puya, clave (12), maracas (1), guataca (4), calabaza (9); Mieko Miyazaki: koto (6, 11, 13); Wu Tong: sheng (3, 6, 11), bawu (8, 10); Mosin Khan Kawa: nagadi (5); E’Joung-Ju: geomungo (9); Dominique Huchet: bird EFX.
Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Ota Records | Style: Latin/World
***Review from http://www.londonjazznews.com/2017/03/cd-review-omar-sosa-seckou-keita.html:
CD REVIEW: Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita - Transparent Water
Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita - Transparent Water
(World Village WVF479125. CD review by Peter Bacon)
The Cuban pianist Omar Sosa is a born collaborator and his taste in musical partners ranges far and wide. In the past he has worked most effectively with American folk/blues singer/banjo player Tim Eriksen and Italian jazz trumpeter Paolo Fresu; here he is co-leader with the Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita who is now resident in this country.
Transparent Water is full of clear, bubbling, flowing and tumbling sounds as befits its title. The two players interlace their not dissimilar instruments into a gentle ebb and flow, luxuriating in the subtle timbral variations they can get.
Those timbres are further enhanced with added electronic washes behind them and a variety of additional percussion sounds from all around the world, mainly made by Venezuelan Gustavo Ovalles but also from the Chinese sheng and bawu of Wu Tong, for example. In addition Keita sings on some tracks.
The resulting music is both serenely atmospheric, able to function as a background soundtrack to the listener’s life, yet also worthy of more active engagement with its adventurous improvisational twists and turns, and constant reinventions. It has an air of devotion, filled with a quiet and often quite restrained joy.
The potential downside of this kind of “world music fusion” is that it can sound like a mixture made for the sake of it, and a mess as a result. But the shared vision of Sosa and Keita overcomes any such risks - they may be eclectic in their influences but they are true to their own musical characters and what they want to achieve.
It’s a beautiful album from start to finish.