Mamá África

As one of Félix Baloy’s Cuban Son All Stars, Julio Montoro knows how to surround himself with class. On the Cuban guitarist, composer and producer’s third album for the Bath-based Tumi Music label he certainly exudes it. “Africa is the root of all the music I make,” he acknowledges, and as the title suggests, this is no exception. Label-head Mo Fini suggested his Senegalese friend Amadou Diagne – on vocals, kora and tama (talking drum) – to cement this ‘melting pot of African and Cuban music.’ As well as the soaring title track, the fusion is natural and particularly seamless on ‘Moruka’, the mambo-esque ‘Muganga’, the funky ‘Samadom’ with its faint echoes of Afrobeat, and the lovely, lazy ‘Tres Palabras’, which evokes Omar Sosa.

Monturo wanted to make this more of an acoustic album than before. Apart from his prowess on keyboards, it’s his distinguished acoustic guitar playing that pulls the diverse threads of Mamá África together, from the delightful ‘Sama Rew’ that conjures the golden age of musical Havana, to ‘Changüisongo’, with its surprising scat-singing by celebrated guest, Bobby Carcacés. A gold star, too, to Yosvany Betancourt for his dextrous percussion throughout this high-class release.