HABANA-BAHIA

Description

Yilian Canizares continues her world tour of exiled African cultures. In 2019, to record the album Erzulie, she settled in New Orleans, where she rediscovered the vibrant memories of Creole culture, Haitian Voodoo, cosmopolitan jazz, and Southern funk. Today, for Habana-Bahia, she chooses another capital of Black identities: Salvador de Bahia, and especially a particular neighborhood, Candeal, which concentrates all the electricity of a metropolis, its spirits, and its drums. This new album is a feast. It opens with the timeless voices of the mystical laundresses of Itapua, blessing the name of "Oxum." It unfolds salty souls, filtered rock, and new-century tropicalism. It blends voices from here and elsewhere, duets across the seas, Spanish and Brazilian. Yilian Canizares sings her true volatile nature, reconciling space and time, men and gods. Yilian Canizares is one of the most interesting violinists, singers, and composers on the contemporary scene. Without ever betraying her origins, she blends jazz, classical, and Afro-Cuban rhythms in a style that has become her own, with a voice that seems to come from another world. Few artists, whether on stage or in the studio, are as talented and versatile as Yilian Canizares. Born in Havana and living in Switzerland for 20 years, she holds great respect for the past while cultivating a forward-looking sensibility. "Yilian is one of the most incredible talents of the new generation of Cuban musicians. She is virtuosic, expressive, spontaneous, and has a grace that makes her a favorite of all of us." Chucho Valdés. Her style reflects her diverse influences. It includes touches of jazz, classical, and Cuban music, with ample room for improvisation. Les Inrockuptibles magazine speaks of "jazz orchestration mixed with percussion borrowed from Yoruba rituals." She sings in Spanish, Yoruba, and French, and one of her unique talents is to sing and play the violin simultaneously.