Daymé Arocena is touring the UK, Europe and US. Backed by her killer band of fellow Cuban musicians, the singer, composer and songwriter is touring soon-to-be-released new album Sonocardiogram. A heady blend of jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms, it sees her explore her home’s intertwined rituals of family, music and religion.
An important voice in Latin music, Daymé has previously collaborated with influential Cuban peers, like Chucho Valdés and Pedrito Martinez, and US heavyweights like Dexter Story and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. From a recent appearance at Primavera Festival, to sold out tours across Japan and the US, her spectacular live show continues to draw crowds around the world.
The title is a reference to an echocardiogram, a heart scan; she wanted to mimic that medical procedure with her music. “We wanted to create something that was a snapshot of who we are inside,” she says. “We wanted it to capture our personality, our world, how we hear the music.” Recording the album outside a traditional studio, ambient noise from outside filtered into the sound of the record, and cats and dogs would pass in and out of the space. The less conventional environment was a means to getting closer to the core of what they do musically.
Tour dates
October
Friday 4th, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London,UK
Saturday 5th, Flagey Studio 4, Brussels, Belgium
Saturday 12th, Mondriaan Jazz Festival 2019
Saturday 12th, Paard, The Hague, Netherlands
November
Sunday 10th, Miner Auditorium, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, CA, US
Wednesday 13th, World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA, US
Thursday 14th, City Winery DC, Washington, DC, US
Saturday 16th, Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY, US
Sunday 17th, City Winery, Boston, MA, US
Buy tickets here.