Photo by Janne Bogdan, courtesy of Soneros All Stars

Four years after Fidel Castro had toppled the Batista regime, Cristina Azcuy was born. According to the ancient Yoruba culture and religion, her birth took place in the sign of Yemaya, the goddess of the ocean. For decades later, Cristina is one of Cuba's strongest vocalists, with a voice that resounds with over five hundred years of cultural and racial blending. Her powerful energy and charisma stems from the African and Spanish tradition.

If you go three kilometers to the south of Havana's city center you will notice how the sun-bleached tarmac turns into red and brown soil and how the smell of the ocean vanquishes the stench from garbage and diesel. You now find yourself in Marianao. In this old suburb, not far from the legendary but now closed dancehall called Buena Vista Social Club, some of Havana's top musicians and vocalists gathered in the summer of 2002. The purpose was to make an album with Cristina Azcuy.

Marianao centers on Son, the musical genre that evolved on the Cuban countryside in the beginning of the 20th century. Son became the music and comfort of slaves and poor farm workers. The roots were in Africa and Spain.

Marianao (Soneros All Stars SASCD-031, 2003)