Omar Sosa was born in Camagüey, Cuba on April 10, 1965. He studied at the Escuela Provincial de Música in Camagüey from 1970 to 1977. From 1977 to 1983 Omar specialized in percussion at the Escuela Nacional de Música in La Habana and in 1984 studied percussion at the Instituto Superior de Arte, also in La Habana, Cuba.
Throughout 1983, 1984 and 1985, Omar taught percussion to school-age children at the Escuela Provincial de Arte in Manzanillo and La Habana. In 1986 Omar founded the group Tributo. During the next two years he provided musical arrangements for this ensemble and toured Angola, Nicaragua, Congo and Ethiopia. He also orchestrated and directed the music for two Tributo recording projects.
In 1988 Omar became musical director and keyboardist for Cuban vocalist Vicente Feliu. He arranged and produced the music for Feliu’s record Arteporetica. The group toured in Nicaragua.
In 1990 Omar formed the group XL Talla Extra with Cuban vocalist Xiomara Laugart. He produced Laugart’s record Fe and toured with her in Mexico and Spain. In 1992, they participated in the closing ceremonies of the World Expo Sevilla ’92.
In 1993, Omar moved to Quito, Ecuador. He formed and served as musical director and keyboardist for the jazz fusion-influenced group Entrenoz. Omar participated in the first Festival of Contemporary Andean Music with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador. He also conducted a Cuban percussion workshop for the Banda Sinfónica del Municipio de Quito.
In 1994, Omar became musical director and keyboardist for the Afro-Ecuadorian group Carmen González & Koral y Esmeralda. He arranged music for the group and produced their CD titled Andarele. The group toured in Brazil, France and Japan. He received the “Hotel Colonial Award” for “Best Producer and Arranger Of The Year” for Andarele. Omar also produced CDs for Ricardo Williams, Leo Mass, and the group Vino y Miel.
In 1995, Omar joined as keyboardist the group Koan Fussion in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. At the end of that year, he moved to San Francisco and began playing keyboards for various Latin ensembles throughout the Bay Area. In 1996, Omar recorded his debut solo piano CD titled Omar Omar with Oakland-based PriceClub Productions. He performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
During 1997, Omar developed his own ensemble, simply named Omar Sosa. He finished his second CD, titled Free Roots, also a PriceClub release, in June of this year. The CD featured 14 musicians, including percussionist Jesús Diaz and drummer Elliot Kavee.
Also, during 1997, Omar began his ongoing collaboration with noted San Francisco Bay Area percussionist and educator John Santos. The duo released a live recording called “Nfumbe” (PCP1004) in conjunction with their appearance at the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 1998. The duo continued to tour in the United States, France and Germany.
Omar’s second large-ensemble recording, Spirit Of The Roots (OTA1005), featured over 30 musicians, including Cuban percussionists Pancho Quinto and Orestes Vilató. In this 1999 CD, Omar combined his musical roots in Cuban popular music and Yoruba spiritual practice with jazz, hip-hop, and music from the black folkloric tradition of Esmeraldas on the north coast of Ecuador. It is a passionate, playful and original work.
Omar released his second solo recording, Inside (OTA1006), an intimate and engaging set of solo piano improvisations. They are at times pensive and introspective, at times romantic, playful and delicate – always inventive and unpredictable.
Capping an extraordinarily productive year, Omar traveled to Quito, Ecuador, where he lived for several years in the early 1990s, to record his CD, Bembón (OTA1007). Like his albums Free Roots and Spirit Of The Roots, Omar’s large-ensemble recording was a remarkable mix of Cuban, jazz, spoken word, and world music elements.
After a few years living in San Francisco, Omar moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he started to collaborate with Gnawa musicians.
In 2004, a collaborative album, Pictures of Soul, came out. It was an improvised music collaboration between Omar Sosa on piano and Los Angeles-based percussionist Adam Rudolph. These two creative musicians had enjoyed each other’s work at a distance for several years. Both shared an appreciation of ritual trance music. In April 2002, when Sosa and his Septet arrived in Los Angeles for a run at the Jazz Bakery, it was possible for these kindred spirits to meet and make music together.
On Pictures of Soul, Sosa played mostly acoustic piano, both on the keyboards and inside the instrument. Rudolph was featured on an array of hand drums, including jembe, tarija, dumbek and tabla.
In 2009, Sosa released Across The Divide, A Tale of Rhythm & Ancestry, a collaboration with American musician, musicologist, and professor Tim Eriksen (leader of the band Cordelia’s Dad). The album featured Omar Sosa on piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics, samplers, vocals; Tim Eriksen on lead vocals, banjo, violin; Childo Tomas on electric & electro-acoustic bass guitars, kalimba, vocals; Marque Gilmore on acousti-lectric drumz, vocals; Leandro Saint-Hill on soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, flute, clarinet; David Gilmore on acoustic and electric guitars; and Roman Díaz on batá drums, congas, cajón, vocals.
The album Ceremony, a collaboration between Omar Sosa and the NDR Big band, arranged by Jaques Morelenbaum, came out in 2010. “Ceremony” was recorded in two sessions (2007 and 2008) at NDR’s Hamburg studios, under the direction of Morelenbaum and Sosa. The album features Morelenbaum’s brilliant arrangements of selections from Omar’s Spirit Of The Roots (1999), Bembón (2000), and Afreecanos (2009) CDs—together with two new Sosa compositions, “Llegada Con Elegba” (the introductory track) and “Salida Con Elegba” (the closing piece).
The lineup included Hamburg’s 18–piece NDR Bigband (North German Radio / Norddeutscher Rundfunk), and the Omar Sosa Quartet, featuring Julio Barreto (drums, Cuba), Childo Tomas (electric bass, Mozambique), and Marcos Ilukán (Afro-Cuban percussion, Cuba). Sosa played piano and marimba.
In 2013, the album Eggun: The Afri-Lectric Experience came out. “Eggun” started as a commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival in 2009. The assignment for Sosa was to compose and produce a tribute performance to Miles Davis’ classic recording, Kind Of Blue, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Inspired by various musical elements and motifs from Kind Of Blue, Omar wrote a suite of music honoring the spirit of freedom in Davis’ essential work. Featuring trumpet and two saxophones, Eggun provided a medium for musical elements from Africa to shape and develop the music. The resulting jazz textures were further enhanced by the subtle and expressive use of electronic elements.
The featured horn players were Joo Kraus on trumpet (Germany), Leandro Saint-Hill on saxophones and flute (Cuba), and Peter Apfelbaum on saxophones and percussion (U.S.A.). Omar’s longtime rhythm section of Marque Gilmore on drums (U.S.A.) and Childo Tomas on electric bass (Mozambique) created the foundation. Special guests on the project included Lionel Loueke on guitars (Benin), Marvin Sewell on guitars (U.S.A.), Pedro Martinez on Afro-Cuban percussion (Cuba), John Santos on percussion (U.S.A.) and Gustavo Ovalles on Afro-Venezuelan percussion (Venezuela).
In 2014, Sosa released the solo piano album Senses.
The 2016 album, Eros, was a brilliant encounter with Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu. The recording also included Natacha Atlas on vocals, Jaques Morelenbaum on cello, and the Italian string ensemble Quartetto Alborada. The musical suite centered on the different sides and mysteries of love.
In 2017, Sosa released Transparent Water, a mesmerizing collaboration with kora master and singer Seckou Keita (Senegal).
In 2018, Sosa released Aguas, a collaboration with fellow Cuban artist Yilian Cañizares. The album combined Cuban traditional music with Western classical music and jazz.
In 2021, Sosa rolled out An East African Journey, a set of recordings featuring Omar Sosa collaborations with East African artists. The musicians combined traditional sounds with jazz in a subtle,
contemporary production.
Suba, the second album from Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita, was released worldwide on October 22, 2021, on the bendigedig label. Written and recorded in 2020 during the global lockdown, Suba was a hymn to hope, to a new dawn of compassion and real change in a post-pandemic world, and a visceral reiteration of humanity’s perennial prayer for peace and unity. Suba means ‘sunrise’ in Mandinka, Seckou’s native language.
The Suba album also featured Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles, Jaques Morelenbaum (cello), Dramane Dembélé (flute) and Steve and Steve Argüelles (sequencing, effects and percussion).
In April 2022, the 52nd Annual USA Film Festival premiered the film Omar Sosa’s 88 Well-Tuned Drums by Soren Sorensen. The feature-length documentary film illustrates the life and music of Omar Sosa. It includes extensive interviews with Omar Sosa, archival video and stills, and lots of music.
OMAR SOSA’S 88 WELL-TUNED DRUMS trailer from Soren Sorensen on Vimeo
In May 2022, Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita won the International songwriting Competition in the world music category with their song “Allah Léno.”
The album Manos (hands in Spanish) together with fellow Cuban pianist Marialy Pacheco was released in 2022. The piano duet album was recorded live at Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Germany.
Discography:
Omar Omar (Otá Records OTA1001, 1996)
Free Roots (Otá Records OTA 1003, 1997 )
Nfumbe for the Unseen, with John Santos Duo (Otá Records OTA 1004, 1998)
Spirit of the Roots (Otá Records OTA 1005, 1999)
Inside (Otá Records OTA 1006, 1999)
Bembón (Otá Records OTA 1007 2000)
Prietos (Otá Records OTA 1008 2001)
Sentir (Otá Records OTA 1009 2002)
Ayaguna (Otá Records OTA 1010, 2003)
A New Life (Otá Records OTA 1011, 2003)
Pictures of Soul (Otá Records OTA 1012, 2004)
Mulatos (Otá Records OTA 1014, 2004)
Ballads 1997-2000, compilation (Otá OTA 1015, 2005)
Mulatos Remix (Otá OTA 1016, 2006)
Live à FIP (Otá, 2006)
Promise, with Paolo Fresu (Otá/Skip[de], 2007)
D.O.: A Day Off, with Greg Landau (Otá, 2007)
Afreecanos (Otá, 2008)
Tales from the Earth A Tale of Rhythm and Ancestry, with Mark Weinstein (Otá, 2009)
Across the Divide (Half Note Records, 2009)
Simb, with Adam Rudolph (Otá/Meta Records, 2009)
Ceremony, with NDR Bigband (Otá, 2010)
Calma (Otá, 2011)
Alma, with Paolo Fresu (Otá, 2012)
Eggun: The Afri-Lectric Experience (Otá, 2013)
Senses (Otá, 2014)
ile (Otá, 2015)
Jog, with de:Joo Kraus and Gustavo Ovalles (Otá, 2016)
Eros, with Paolo Fresu (2016)
Es:Sensual, with NDR Big Band (Skip/Otá, 2017/2018)
Transparent Water, with Seckou Keita (Otá, 2017)
Aguas, with Yilian Cañizares (Otá, 2018)
An East African Journey (Otá, 2021)
SUBA, with Sekou Keita (Otá, 2021)
Manos (Otá, 2022)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.