Desde la Bahia—San Francisco

Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2002 by Jesse Varela

OMAR SOSA! It's obvious the 37-year old bandleader, pianist and composer is excited by the birth of his son, Lonious (named after Thelonious Monk), and surprised about his Latin Grammy nomination.

"I didn't think too much about the nomination," he said from his new home in Barcelona, Spain. "It's always a struggle but it's the spirits who guide and strengthen me. This is a humble offering that shows we can all come together."

The music of Omar Sosa is a collage of imagined African sounds articulated with a percussive piano style that bears the stamp of Thelonious Monk. Sentir, his fourth album to date, ties together the African branches of Morocco, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and the U.S. A tapestry of ambient folk chants, spoken word and a waterfall of diverse rhythms provide a magic carpet for Sosa's improvisational rides. "For me, all music is relative to Mother Africa. Art has always been a guiding light from our ancestors and nothing can stop its message."

Born in Camagüey, Cuba, Omar Sosa attended a provincial music school as a child. In 1977 he was enrolled in the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Música in Havana, where he majored in percussion. Because of a shortage of vibraphones and other mallet instruments, he gravitated to the piano. Graduating as a teacher, he taught percussion to children in the 1980s in Manzanillo and Havana. His first group "Tributo" cast him on his creative path in 1986. Fusing jazz, funk and songo, he toured Angola, Nicaragua, Congo and Ethiopia. In 1988 he became musical director for singer Vincente Feliu. Shortly after, he formed "XL Talla Extra" with singer Xiomara Laugart.

Moving to Ecuador in 1993, he taught in the Esmeraldas region of the Pacific Coast where black colonies use the ebony-wood marimba as their traditional instrument. In 1995 he moved to Spain briefly before arriving in San Francisco and settling in East Oakland.

"What I've experienced in the Bay Area I'll never forget. I return periodically just to drive on the freeway. Here in Spain there is no freeway. Barcelona moves within itself. You can feel the city without super streets."

Relocating to Europe two years ago provided opportunities to play at the JVC Jazz Festival in Paris, the Music Meeting in Holland, Womex in Berlin and the Blue Note in Tokyo. Yet he is still very much grounded to the Bay Area, collaborating with Bay Area percussionist John Santos and currently working on a symphonic work commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

In early September, Sosa appeared at Yoshi's in Oakland and the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz with Eric Crystal & Hafez Morazadeh (saxes), Yassir Chadly (Moroccan percussion-vocals), Gustavo Ovalles (Venezuelan percussion), Brother Los (rap-spoken word) and Geoff Brannen (double-bass).

QUETZAL: Cool breezes blew in on August 8 in the South Bay as Quetzal, the Los Angeles-based chicano/Latino groove band, kicked off the free public performances of the 13th Annual San José Jazz Festival.

The voice of Marta González resonated from César Chavez Plaza with clarity and strength over a medium slow 6/8 son jarocho from Veracruz called Pajarito. To spice it up, the petite singer-percussionist jumped on a two-foot high wooden box where she did a traditional Mexican heel dance called "zapateado."

Led by guitarist-folklorist Quetzal Flores, the group known for its conscience raising lyrics has been receiving national acclaim for its album Sing the Real on Vanguard Records. An excellent effort showcasing their blend of tradicional-Mex, Afro-Cuban, jazz, rock and funk, they largely played material from their two albums. Vagabundo came next, and the melancholy violin of Rocio Marron set a perfect mood for a duet between Marta and Gabriel González.

Throughout the set, guitarist Ray Sandoval took some inspired solos, as did violinist Marron. Marta González in her own right is a tough conga drummer with solid time and good soloing abilities. Her sense of timing makes her Mexican zapateado remarkably hip. Her voice pulls you in like a magnet. With clarity, strength and intonation, González articulates her socially conscious messages with soulful delivery and a mournful llanto (cry).

Bandleader Quetzal Flores is a quiet figure on stage as he plays jarana, bajo sexto or guitar. Like a sheepherder, he keeps the flock together moving at a steady pace. Quetzal is still in its youthful prime and exudes an upbeat nuance that exudes from the gifted Marta González. Theirs is a new-millennium sound setting the cultural framework for the future.

QUICKIES: On Saturday, November 2 at 4 p.m., the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San José hosts a "Día De Los Muertos-Chicano Groove Festival & Carnival" featuring Burning Star, East LA Sabor Factory, B-Side Players, Quetzal, Firme, Grito Serpentino, Elijah Emanuel and the Revelations, Los Mocosos, Agua Dulce, Slowrider and from Tijuana, The Nortec Collective. For its 20th anniversary, the San Francisco Jazz Festival hosts Juan Formell & Los Van Van at the Hyatt Regency's Grand Ballroom in SF (Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9). The Afro-Cuban All Stars are at Villa Montalvo in Redwood City on Sunday, November 17.