With AfroCubism due out in just over a month, National Geographic has an exclusive music preview, streaming the album track "Al vaivén de mi carreta." The album and band are the cover story of the October issue of Songlines. "It's a quite superb coming together of Cuban and Malian traditions to create something that sounds excitingly fresh and new," says writer Nigel Williamson. "There was a genuine creative tension between the tightly structured approach of the Cubans and the looser, more improvisational attitude of the Malians. And it's perhaps this tension that makes it such an exciting album."
There's just over a month until the World Circuit / Nonesuch release of AfroCubism, the album of Malian and Cuban musicians that was meant to be recorded 14 years ago, when Buena Vista Social Club was created instead. NPR's All Songs Considered premiered a behind-the-scenes video on the project last week, when the album first became available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. And now, National Geographic has an exclusive preview of music from the album, streaming the track "Al vaivén de mi carreta" at nationalgeographic.com.
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The album and band are the cover story of the October issue of Songlines magazine, on newsstands now. For the article, writer Nigel Williamson attended the band's concert debut in Cartagena, Spain, and spoke with band members, including the Buena Vista Social Club's Eliades Ochoa and kora master Toumani Diabaté, about the project. You can hear a preview of the article in the latest episode of the Songlines podcast, available for free at iTunes.
"It's a quite superb coming together of Cuban and Malian traditions to create something that sounds excitingly fresh and new," Williamson says on the podcast. "It's a fascinating story. Not merely because of the long gestation of the project, but because, behind all the claims of Cubans and Africans speaking a common musical Esperanto, there was a genuine creative tension between the tightly structured approach of the Cubans and the looser, more improvisational attitude of the Malians. And it's perhaps this tension that makes it such an exciting album."
To hear more of what Williamson has to say about AfroCubism and the article, download the podcast from iTunes.
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To reserve a copy of AfroCubism in North America and receive the complete album as audiophile-quality 320 kbps MP3s on release day, including the exclusive bonus track "El Manisero," head to the Nonesuch Store.
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