For Sosa, who will appear with his new Quarteto Americanos, his identity as a Cuban of African descent remains a starting point for exploring a pan-African culture without borders.
His career spans 30 years and has been documented in 35 releases thus far, and his work has been recognized with four Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Award nominations. He continues collaborating with an impressive list of North American, African, Arabic, European, Indian, and Latin musicians, treating post-bop jazz and cha-cha, hip-hop, rhythms of the Moroccan Gnawa tradition, or ritual music of the Orisha tradition as different expressions of shared African roots.
By connecting seemingly disparate sources and exploring old traditions with a contemporary approach, he often suggests conversations among long-lost relatives.
The results then are not just surprising but illuminating.
For his appearance at Global Cuba Fest, his first in Miami since 2018, Sosa will lead a quartet featuring multi-reed player Sheldon Brown, bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelán, and drummer Josh Jones.
"Every project has different music, and every project gives me something," says the pianist in a conversation in Spanish from his home in Barcelona. "And being on the move keeps me awake, alert — and a lot of times a little bit scared, too. If we expect that what happened yesterday will happen today, well, forget it," he says before breaking into a laugh.
But for Sosa, who will be 59 in April, "the concept remains the same. What has changed sometimes over the years is the form. But the idea of the unity of culture and sharing remains. And when I say 'sharing,' I don't mean it only from the musical point of view but also from a human point of view. You give me something of yours, I give you something of mine, and together, we will create something that perhaps will have two words from you and one from me, and perhaps it will be positive for everyone."
Omar Sosa's career spans 30 years, and his work has been recognized with four Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Award nominations.
Photo by Shinya Watabe
While he has consistently said that he does not consider himself a jazz pianist, he calls himself a jazzman.
"Jazz, for me, is a philosophy of life, and that philosophy allows you to feel free to express yourself," says Sosa. "That openness is why jazz works with all kinds of music. That's why it's a global music. I don't play bebop, and maybe I know one jazz standard, that's it, nothing more. But for me, jazz is freedom, and in those terms, I consider myself a jazzman."
He is an expressive, imaginative pianist with a rich vocabulary, capable of remarkably lyrical flights and forceful grooves. But Sosa trained initially as a percussionist and still approaches the piano as "88 well-tuned drums." The idea serves as the title of the documentary on Sosa's music and life, directed by Soren Sorensen, a filmmaker in Worcester, Massachusetts, who focuses on documentaries with an emphasis on social and cultural issues. The film had its world premiere at the 2022 USA Film Festival in Dallas and has since appeared at more than 30 film festivals.
Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums will be released on demand via platforms like Amazon, Google, and Tubi on Friday, March 15, and Blu-ray in April 2024.
As it turns out, Sorensen met Sosa at one of his shows in New York. He "found the work interesting, a bit different from what was being played at the time, but he didn't know anything about what I had been doing," says Sosa. "So he started to search and listen, and we connected on this message of pluriculturality."
For Sosa, it's a concept that has shaped his approach to life and, inevitably, as a result, his music.
"Living with other cultures makes me more open-minded. This is what I've been expressing in my work all these years, and, at this point in my life, it's what I'll die doing," says Sosa. "It's what gives me pleasure — and makes me grow as a person."
– Fernando Gonzalez, ArtburstMiami.com
Global Cuba Fest 2024. With Omar Sosa Quarteto Americano, Ernán López-Nussa, and Rolando Luna. 8 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami; 305-576-4350; miamilightproject.com. Tickets cost $25 to $40.
