AlKemi

Cuban music contributes to, and absorbs, myriad musics from across Latin America, the Caribbean and the US. It has also long been a meeting point for traditions and technical virtuosity, its historic links to Russia also having a strong impact on its culture. Daymé Arocena is a fascinating one-woman embodiment of the competing, conflated influences. Conservatory-schooled, a touring jazz musician and a restless student of her art, she says music is nothing without feeling; AlKemi, her first album in five years, is a sublime Afro-Cuban experiment and a declaration of emotional intent. ‘Suave y Pegao’ quietly and craftily mixes up jazz, bossa nova and urbano grooves, with reggaeton Rafa Pabön guesting on vocals. Then there’s the smouldering neo-soul of ‘A Fuego Lento’, performed with Dominican singer Vicente García. Torchsong ‘Coda (Sade Blues)’ has heaps of after-hours sultriness and seductive swing. ‘American Boy’ is poppy, but political, and percussion-led, and grounded in Arocena’s traditions and broad musical education. Since her 2015 debut, Nueva Era (a Top of the World in #110), she has moved to Puerto Rico – not quite Cuba but you can almost hear the drums – and enlisted musicians from all over. She has also matured and her material is deeper and more diverse – this is ‘feeling’ music lifted to the level of religious experience.