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Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares: Aguas Trio featuring Gustavo Ovalles
The following description was submitted by the event organizer.
Part of the 2020 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival.
In October 2018, Omar Sosa and violinist-vocalist Yilian Cañizares released Aguas, a very beautiful and personal album. Featuring their compatriot, percussionist Inor Sotolongo, Aguas reflects the perspectives of two generations of Cuban artists living outside their homeland, interpreting their roots and traditions in subtle and unique ways. Songs range from the poignant to the exuberant, and are expressive of the exceptional musical chemistry, poetic sensibilities and originality of the artists.
The material on Aguas is an inventive and engaging mix of the artists’ Afro-Cuban roots, Western classical music and jazz. The album is dedicated to Water, and especially to Oshun, the Goddess of Love and Mistress of Rivers in the Lucumí tradition of Yoruba ancestry known in Cuba as Santería — a spiritual practice important to both artists. As water is synonymous with life, and energy and strength, and space, the music of the album is inspired by the important influences of water — its hidden powers, its infinite transmutations and its relentless creation. There is a sense, as well, for Omar and Yilian, of how water represents both separation from, and nostalgia for, the land of their birth.