With Caribe, her third album, Ana Carla Maza, has come full circle, returning with a collection of tracks that reconnect her to her upbringing in Havana in the late 1990s and the wealth of Latin American and Afro-Cuban sounds to which she was exposed during her childhood.
Currently resident in France, Caribe is the third release in three years from the Cuban-born classical musician who has toured extensively throughout 2022 and 2023, having studied at the Conservatoire de Paris after moving there at 16 and passing the required entry exams following relocation from Cuba to Spain with her family when she was 12.
Born into a musical family, her mother was the director of a children’s choir and her father a composer and instrumentalist; from her grandmother’s window in the Guanabacao district, famed for its Santería religion, she would absorb the sights and sounds of the ceremonial music and ritual which accompanied the Yoruba beliefs and traditions. Introduced to the piano at five years old, receiving lessons from Miriam Valdés, sister of the legendary Chucho Valdés, who would laboriously copy out the music scores by hand for each of her pupils, by the age of eight Ana had taken up the cello.
Throw into the mix the contemporaneous worldwide exposure to traditional Cuban son, courtesy of the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon, and it can be no surprise that Ana is revisiting such joyful memories on this release.
In contrast to the previous, highly acclaimed Bahia album, which featured only cello and voice, for Caribe, Ana has assembled a Latin jazz band comprising both Latin American and European musicians. The sextet of two Cubans, Luis Guerra, percussion, and Irving Acao, saxophone/flute, German pianist Norman Peplow, Guadeloupe drummer Arnauld Dolmen, and two Frenchmen, and also Conservatoire alumni, Fidel Fourneyron on trombone and accordionist Noé Clerc, provide robust, even rumbustious, backing to the lead vocals and cello of Ana, who in addition to writing and composing all tracks also produced the album.
Conceived, written and recorded in diverse locations, “on a plane trip to Mexico, by the shores of Lake Annecy, from a castle in Portugal”, and influenced, as noted, by the sounds of bossa, cumbia, huayano, the son montuno of the Oriente, rumba, salsa, samba, son and tango prevalent in her childhood Cuba, this paean to Latin American music reflects a bold and independent approach from Ana, who tells us that “In Latin music, women sing, and men do everything else. I decided to approach this new record without a music producer. I arrived in the studio with all the scores, written for a sextet, instrument by instrument… So why not take on a new challenge: entirely produce a Latin album that reflects my feminine sensitivity, my desire for positive celebration of the here and now, of ‘Alegria’, spontaneous joy.”
From the first piano notes of the opening track, Guanabacoa, the joyful fun and energy of the titular Eastern Havana colonial township mentioned above is apparent in the music. Ana’s vocals, underscored by claves and other percussion, add to the atmosphere and with a change of key, the brass enters the fray with gusto with more rippling piano notes, think Rubén González, creating a real groove which ebbs and flows like waves crashing over the Malecón walls.
The first single taken from the album, A Tomar Cafe (Latin Version), is one of four presented here, which also appeared on Ana’s previous release, 2022’s Bahia, all of which are given a dramatic re-interpretation. Firmly rooted in a BVSC Cuban sound, this Latin version, with French vocals, is brought to life by a piano-driven groove, congos, subtle cello strokes and flute, alongside the catchy, repetitive vocal refrain, A Tomar Cafe’ (to take coffee). When the horns are eventually let loose, they only add to the intoxicating energy of this track.
The first of three further tracks, which appeared on previous releases, albeit in radically different formats, is Astor Piazzolla (Latin Version)—written by Ana to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Astor Piazzolla, a famed Argentinian tango composer and bandoneon player. Cello is very much to the fore here, but the instrumental accompaniment transports what was already a fine composition into another realm of dramatic listening pleasure. Toe-tappingly invasive, whilst at the same time, the very classical-sounding cello interlude, at times sounding like sitar, tugs at the emotions before the group returns to the opening melody.
The two remaining ‘Latin Version’ tracks contrast greatly in style. Bahia (Latin Version) has a Brazilian bossa nova feel, again with alluring vocals and another fine piano solo, whilst Huayano (Latin Version), much extended in length from the original, sees the tempo slowed down considerably on this piece based upon a Peruvian Quechua rhythm and dance, as the deep sonorous cello gives evidence of Ana’s classical training. The almost oriental-sounding interlude of a bar or two of plucked strings is a delicate touch.
The title track, Caribe, appears to be harking back to the salsa sounds encountered in her childhood. With its opening vocals over a clapping beat gives way to rippling piano notes and brass. The smouldering vocals and multi-tracked chorus enhance the overall sound significantly, and the percussion in the background provides the perfect accompaniment, with the brass playing once again being of the highest quality.
El Malecón, the track immediately following, is a much slower and more contemplative affair. Once again, the full scope of Ana’s cello playing ability is exhibited on this truly atmospheric track, which, to these ears and memory, is a wonderfully evocative composition which perfectly reflects the dramatic sunsets seen at this iconic location.
This, in turn, is followed by a much more upbeat song, both in terms of the melody and lyrics. Las Primaveras adopts the rhythm of the Dominican merengue, with the instruments melding harmoniously as Ana sings (In the face of the sadness of passing time, it emphasises the happiness of existence).
Cumbia del Tiempo is an animated piece reflecting the Columbian musical rhythm and traditional folk dance, whilst Carnaval continues in a similar vein. The flute again sounds somewhat oriental; the ‘la la’ chorus, prancing piano notes and effective vocal performance create a compelling mix of styles.
The addition of the accordion on Dos Enamorados may offer a hint of North-East Brazilian forró, a name possibly derived from the word used by locals in Natal during World War Two who would be allowed to attend US military dances displaying the sign “For All”. Regardless, the track opens with Noé’s accordion, reminiscent of the Parisien café accordion sound, which flows seamlessly, both musically and geographically, to Ana’s bowed cello, creating an atmosphere redolent of a soundtrack to an Agatha Christie ‘Poirot’ mystery. The plucked cello and vocals elaborate on this theme and lead into a memorable horn segment, replete with compelling lead vocals. One of the stand-out tracks on Caribe, the majestic soundscape created here is akin to a melange of the best of Latin-American Rhythms and Parisien Jazz, with more than a large helping of Bellowhead-like exuberance.
With its gentle piano opening, the penultimate composition, Tropical, is another piece which would not be out of place as an accompaniment to a film. Initially, brief shades of both Philip Glass in his Qatsi Trilogy before, at just under two minutes in, the cello again comes to the fore, adding further gusto as the music builds in intensity and tempo before subsiding and returning to the opening motif, perhaps a nod to the track’s title and musical evocation of a tropical storm?
The final song on the album, Diana, appears as a bit of an enigma, and one could perhaps be forgiven for thinking it is two different songs spliced together. The first two-thirds presents as a far more commercial offering, or at least one leaning much towards soft lounge-core jazz; musically it is out of kilter with most of the rest of the album, whilst the second section has much more of a Cuban feel, intoxicating rhythms and percussive beats with more audacious piano breaks offering a musical parallel to the album’s theme and Ana’s approach to life which is also reflected in her lyrics “Don’t be afraid, it’s your life, you have nothing to lose”. Any fears Ana may have had that using additional musicians might have been a step too far are clearly unfounded. With Caribe and its mix of Latin American/Afro-Cuban styles, underscored by a classical background, Ana Carla Maza has produced a polished, effervescent and thoroughly entertaining listen that sits well alongside the most illustrious Cuban artists.