As an extensive and informative sleeve note (recorded in a DSP) file, the origin of this edition-poetic and fascinating, rhythmic vitality-lies in Sosa's East Africa tour at the end of 2009. Brought great returns for Sosa, and produced concerts and live recordings. A few years later, Sosa and his long-time collaborator Steve Argüelles — if you don’t know, take a look at Argüelles’ drums on Sosa’s Mulatos since 2004 — entered the Paris studio and worked with these materials, and finally The music that led to it was a trip to East Africa.
African music and mythology have always been an integral part of Sousa's art. People will think of his long-standing Quarteto Afro Cubano; powerful Ceremony and Eggun, his two best recordings, or he and Senegalese musicians Mola Sylla (v, a variety of African instruments, pc) and Seckou Keita (kora, v , Pc) The Promise from 2006 (respectively) and the transparent water ten years later. On the sleeve of The Promise’s wonderful live recording – featuring ao, Paolo Fresu (t, flh) Leandro Saint-Hill (f) and Childo Thomas (elb, v) – Sosa wrote: “It’s Afreeca that gave us / Afreeca gave us / Afreeca is our mother / Afreeca is the root".
As Souza has long realized, the essence of this root is that it produces a lot of relevant but diverse music. In a short film about this East African project, Souza said that although there is a lot of percussion in the album, he wants to make sure that other factors such as vocals and stringed instruments are properly exposed. The result is a cornucopia of warm and resonant music, with fascinating, diverse vocal repetitions, solos and groups, and the most common call and response formats (sample Thuon Mok Loga, Che Che, Veloma E, and Meinfajria), with complex melodies (Eretseretse, Shibinda), wide, rolling and cooking rhythms (Elrababa, Dadilahy) and concentrated rubato reflections (Tizeta, Sabo).
From beginning to end, Sosa's pianos, kalimba (African thumb pianos), atmospheric keyboard textures and proficient rhythm are all sensitively and seamlessly blended with East African materials. The ending Ravann Dan Jazz was recorded in Mauritius. Sosa sang with singer and drum master Menwar. The music reached that fascinating, pulsating and fabulous presence, which marked Calling Eggun. This is 2012 Eggun’s exciting The unforgettable last song. Sosa’s Afri-Llectric experience.
A wonderful, totally affirming life experience, Journey to East Africa is an album adjacent to the (very different, but equally outstanding) Kulu Sé Mama by Coltrane in 1965. If music is better than this, I would definitely want to listen to it.
Records (1) Tsjaro Tsara; (2) Thuon Mok Loga; (3) El Lababa; (4) Ereseretz; (5) Cars; (1) Veloma E; (6) Kwa Nyogokuru Revisit ; (7) Tizeta; (4) Sabo; (3) Meinfajria; (8) Shibinda; (1) Dadirashi; (9) Ravann Dan Jazz (55.56) Sosa (p, pc, v, kalimba); Steve Aquilles (d, pc, Simmons d); Christopher "Disco" Minck (b, moog, syn, effect) and (1) Rajery (valiha, v). (2) Olith Ratego (nyatiti, v). (3) Dafaalla Elhag Ali (tambur). (4) Monja Mahafay (marovany, lokanga, v). (5) Seleshe Damessae (krar; v). Mola Sylla, Childo Thomas, Patrick Destandeau (v). (6) Steven Sogo (umuduri, v). (7) As in (5) but with a vocal quartet. (8) Abel Ntarasa (kalumbu, v). (9) Menwar (Lavannes). Antananarivo, Lusaka, Addis Ababa, Khartoum, Bujumbura, Nairobi, Mauritius November to December 2009. Paris 2016-18. OTA record 1034
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