Features, july 09 12/6/09 11:12 Page 21

sacred in my house.” Fonseca is nothing if not eclectic, as his He recorded his first album En El Comienzo at career decisions testify – the track EGREM with Javier Zalba’s latin fusion group ‘Llego Cachaito’ even features on the Temperamento and received the country’s 1999 soundtrack to the film, Cubadisco Award for best jazz album. Three solo Hancock. works followed. In 2001, he hit the international stage Oh, and then there’s his as the youngest member of the Buena Vista Social infamous sartorial sponsor, Club, shadowing their ailing maestro Rubén Agnès B. The Parisian González then replacing him on his retirement designer became his self- (“sharing the stage with him was a dream; I’d just appointed stylist after stand there watching him play for hours”). being blown away by But it was the subsequent world tours of Buena one of his concerts; he Vista solo artists and Omara has since Portuondo that really saw him shine; not one international review of Ferrer, from Asia to South America, failed to mention his charisma and talent. “My generation had sort of lost touch with the traditional stuff,” he said when I interviewed him in played at for Zamazu, an album that references hip- one of her hop, rap and drum ’n’ bass. “But the Buena Vista shows. The track ‘Como musicians were always introducing new ideas from En Las Peculias’ – a other styles and genres. Ibrahim taught me so many hazy, delicate piece on things: especially that music should be simple, and piano, bass and drums – played from the heart and that no matter how famous is dedicated to both and important you are, you must never forget where France and his savvy you came from.” stylist. “Everyone likes to The heir apparent in a long line of Cuban be well-presented before pianists/bandleaders – from Chucho Valdes to the the public,” he says breezily, likes of Gonzalo Rubalcaba – Fonseca continues to trademark leather hat in place. revitalise latin jazz with a body of work that variously “For me to have the support of Agnès draws on his country’s rich traditions, his thorough B is something very important in my life classical training, extensive experience playing jazz and I hope that we will always work and the world influences he’s absorbed after more together. She is a fantastic person.” than a decade’s worth of international touring. The designer would certainly be Where Zamazu announced the arrival of a major embraced in the dedication on Akokan. “I new player – magnetic, prodigious, brimming with dedicate this new album to all the people musical ideas – Akokan more than vindicates the that have welcomed me with open hype. Recorded in just four days with Fonseca’s arms,” writes Fonseca – by which he aforementioned long-time quartet, it is testament to must mean just about everyone. So the benefits of constant live work and an artist who what’s next? A more experimental has matured and keeps on maturing in confidence jazz album, perhaps? “I want to be and musical prowess. “I wanted to bring the magic, characterised as a musician, not strength and improvisation of my live shows into the as a jazz musician or a musician studio. I wanted to show the different styles. The that only plays traditional music different ways of playing.” or classical music. Music is so Akokan means “heart” in Yoruba, the Nigerian varied that I think the more language that features in the chants of Santeria – the knowledge of music you Afro-Cuban religion beloved of Fonseca and a high have, the more complete percentage of his country’s (mainly Afro-Cuban) you will be and the more population. “Growing up in Havana, Santeria played stories you will have. But a big role in my spiritual upbringing. I am a santero [a jazz for me is freedom.” priest of Santeria] and Chango [the god or orisha of He flashes a smile. “I thunder] is my saint. It is such a powerful and intense never know where I’ll feeling and it has had a huge impact on my music.” go.” It is his Santeria, one suspects, that keeps the Roberto Fonseca non-drinking, non-smoking, non-partying Fonseca plays the Harrogate grounded on these tours of far-flung locales. He has international just finished a wildly-successful tour of Australia and festival on New Zealand; jetlag might explain his downbeat 12 July. demeanour at the Paris showcase. He is fêted everywhere from Spain, where his record company is based, and Italy where he headlined the Umbria jazz festival, to Bulgaria – a country that has made a particularly strong mark, especially its “strong and emotional folklore” which “will always be present in my development as a person and as a musician,” as Fonseca’s sleeve note to the track ‘Bulgarian’ has it, a track woven with Alba’s sinuous clarinet runs. The famous choir’s eponymous Le mystère des voix Bulgares is also cited as a favourite album, alongside everything from Bob Marley’s Legend collection to, um, Sting’s 1986 live album Bring On The Night.

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