Ritual

Links between Cuba and Mexico go back a long time: there is evidence of multiple prehistoric population movements. On Ritual, Havana’s Rita Donte fuses traditional Cuban forms with the more relaxed, less brash spirit of her new homeland, Mexico, where certain older styles are preserved while being drastically transformed at home. Sometimes sparse and transparent, as on the lively ‘Paseo de las Misiones’, and sometimes lushly romantic, as on the bolero ‘La Vida es Hermosa’. Ritual showcases Cuban music seen through a Mexican lens, with some unexpected echoes from the Spanish-speaking Jewish diaspora and 80s Brazil (the carefully organised ‘Calle Libertad’, whose cheerful progress smuggles in a serious message). Rita Donte’s singing is gentle yet precise, and the meditative closing rumba ‘Zunzun Baba’ is a peaceful and fitting end to the work.