There are ensembles capable of changing, today, the way we feel music. When we speak of the duo formed by Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa, by feeling we do not mean mere listening, but a matter of heart, soul and empathy. It is by now one of the best known and best loved ensembles, both in Italy and abroad, able to build sonic and conceptual bridges between two seas and two continents and to refine, concert after concert, its musical offering. Precisely to give a further sign of this artistic maturity, almost four years after the great success of “Alma”, the duo has recorded “Eros” (Tǔk Music, distributed by Ducale), a concept album devoted to the theme and its essential variations.
The two protagonists of the adventure chose to compose original pieces motivated by the “sacred” emotional totem that pushes beauty towards the divine. Fresu and Sosa dance in a decidedly Latin way around the winning mix of jazz, Cuban music, Africa and world music that they have managed to create. And if Fresu is by now that important icon of contemporary music whom everyone recognises, an ever more stimulating Sosa, with wide-open horizons, is surprising. The almost polyphonic structure and the extreme care, in terms of sound, of the new record are reflected in a live performance of many inputs, entertaining, profound and technically flawless.
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PAOLO FRESU
He began studying the instrument at the age of 11 in the town band of his birthplace and, after various experiences in pop music, discovered jazz in 1980 and started his professional career in 1982, recording for RAI under the guidance of Maestro Bruno Tommaso and attending the Siena Jazz Seminars. In 1984 he graduated in trumpet at the Conservatory of Cagliari and, in the same year, won the “RadioUno jazz”, “Musica jazz” and “RadioCorriere TV” awards as the best talent of Italian jazz. In 1990 he won the “Top jazz” award given by the magazine Musica jazz as best Italian musician, best group (Paolo Fresu Quintet) and best record (the “Arrigo Polillo” award for the record 'Live in Montpellier'); in 1996 the award for best European musician through one of his works from the Académie du jazz in Paris and the prestigious “Django d'Or” as best European jazz musician; and in the year 2000 the nomination as best international musician. These are only the first in a long series of accolades that continue to this day, among which stand out the honorary citizenships of Nuoro, Junas (France) and Sogliano Cavour and the Honorary Degree from the University of Milano-Bicocca. A teacher and head of several important national and international educational institutions, he has played on every continent and with the most important names in African-American music of the last 30 years. He has recorded more than three hundred and fifty records, of which almost a hundred under his own name or as leader, and others in international collaborations, often working on 'mixed' projects such as Jazz-Ethnic music, World Music, Contemporary music, Pop music, Early music, etc. and collaborating with immense names of contemporary music. Many of his recordings have received prestigious awards both in Italy and abroad. In 2010 he founded his own record label, Tǔk Music. He directs the “Time in jazz” Festival in Berchidda. He has also coordinated numerous multimedia projects, collaborating with actors, dancers, painters, sculptors, poets, etc. and writing music for films, documentaries, videos or for Ballet or Theatre. Today he is active with a myriad of projects that keep him busy with more than two hundred concerts a year, in almost every part of the globe. He lives between Paris, Bologna and Sardinia.
OMAR SOSA
The winning mix of jazz, Cuban music and world music with strong African roots makes Omar Sosa an extraordinary new ambassador of contemporary piano playing and one of the most innovative and stimulating figures of jazz at the turn of the century. Starting from a classical training, the artist broadened his musical horizons, drawing inspiration not only from the music of his Cuba but also from African ethnic music and the many syntheses born in Central and South America. Many stylistic features typical of jazz, above all the spirit of research, nonetheless remain a central component of his style. In Promise, whose premiere was presented in Sacile (PN) at the end of 2008, Sosa hosts Paolo Fresu, lyrical as never before and perfectly in tune with the multifaceted musical universe of the Cuban pianist. It was not difficult to foresee that a sensibility that is in its own way “ethnic”, like that of the Sardinian trumpeter, would find common ground with Sosa, without the slightest sacrifice of identity on anyone's part.
Photo credit: Roberto Ciffarelli
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