Artist:AfroCubism
Song:Djelimady Rumba
Album:Afrocubism
Raise your hand if you enjoyed the 1997 documentary Buena Vista Social Club. And shame on you if you haven't seen it. It can be streamed on The Criterion Channel which you should subscribe to anyway. This film had Ry Cooder travel to Havana to give exposure to long forgotten Cuban musicians. The film was so successful there was even a sequel. But did you know that what became Buena Vista Social Club was not World Circuit Records owner Nick Gold's original plan. The plan was to bring Malian musicians to Cuba and call it AfroCubism. When the Cuban visas for the Malian musicians didn't come through, Gold asked Cooder to go to Cuba and the rest is history. But Gold still wanted to do Afrocubism. He decided to record it in Spain to avoid visa problems. The leader of the Cuban musicians was Eliades Ochoa who was in Buena Vista Social Club. The Malian musicians were led by guitarist Djelimady Tounkara and Toumani Diabate on kora. The songs are a mix of Malian originals and Cuban standards. Djielimady Rumba was was written by Tounkara. The album AfroCubism was released in 2010 and they toured to support it. From what I can tell, this was only supposed to be a one shot deal. But the album is certainly worth checking out. Here's AfroCubism performing Djielimady Rumba at Bataclan in Paris May 12,2010. This video is on YouTube but the Daily Motion version is better quality.
Frank, that was incredible. All the talent I just saw there and the music had so much life and soul to it. Thank-you very much sir. David.
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