Okuté

Description

Spend enough time in Havana and you will discover rumba, son, the traditional orisha, palo, and abakua rhythms - Cuban music whose meanings, melodies, and rhythms are rooted in ancient African currents whispering through the collective cultural unconscious. Okuté, a group bringing together the best rumberos from Havana, brings these sound constellations to the surface, weaving them into something that is intuitively its own. Their self-titled album is as raw and unfiltered as Havana, where the lines blur between the sacred and the profane, between centuries and even millennia of melodies, rhythms, and incantations. These elements overlap the old and the new, incorporating unstoppable rhythms with lyrics and melodies strong enough to withstand not only the passage of the middle - this transatlantic journey from east to west endured by slaves taken from Africa to be exploited in the Americas - but also the exhausting centuries of slavery followed by struggles for independence. Produced by Jacob Plasse of Orquesta Akokan and recorded live at the Egrem Studios in Cuba, Okuté is a true musical triumph - original and authentic, and like the essence of rumba, rich in spiritual medicine and musical delight for anyone daring enough to listen.