Common Roots

The Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Guinea are separated by thousands of miles, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that Cuba and Cameroon are entirely different worlds. The distance is made significantly shorter by music. The Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez dedicated his album Tocororo (common name for the Cuban trogon, the island nation’s national bird) to his homeland. He is joined on the recording by twin sisters Diaz from the Parisian duo Ibeyi, the Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and the Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona. The latter friendship, brought together by the legendary American producer Quincy Jones, has resulted with the two musicians recording the track Raíces (roots) – a universal tale of love and homesickness. “There are myriad cultural connections between our countries, such as how we speak and how we dance,” notes Rodríguez, while Bona adds that their mutual understanding was supported by the spiritual power of music. The fruitful collaboration is now moving from the studio to the stage: on 21 October, the virtuosos come to the Manggha Museum to present their project spanning the boundaries of jazz, Latino and world music. (Bartosz Suchecki, ”Karnet”)