Cuban by birth, Barcelonan by adoption and above all a citizen of the world, pianist Omar Sosa makes his debut tonight at the Terrassa Jazz Festival in his first performance in Catalonia in seven years. Known for his Afro-Cuban fusion songs, Sosa will perform together with Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, a companion of adventures for almost two decades, with whom they will soon present his third album, Food. The duo of islanders will bring to the Nova Jazz Cava their music born from improvisation and from what Sosa calls the philosophy of freedom that surrounds jazz. La Vanguardia subscribers have a 15% discount on the price of tickets.
What is behind the union between Fresu and you?
Paolo is Sardinian and I am Cuban. The first time we connected I didn’t know any Italian, and for a year we played without speaking a word to each other. We had a wonderful connection but we didn’t say anything to each other. I realized that our conversation was through music, which in our case is completely improvised. There are certain structures, but in everything else we fly and fly, and there we express our traditions. Now I call Paolo fratello, and he calls me brother, but our essence as islanders makes it take time for us to tell each other that we love each other.
Are you islanders more closed?
You said that (laughs). The islander always needs to go out, as happens in Menorca, where I have lived for a year. When they assume you, they love you, but before it costs. I was with Paolo from the first day, he invited me to his festival in Berchidda (Time in Jazz) where in addition to the great concert they organize performances in surreal places. He took me to play outside a church on the top of a mountain, where you had to walk two hours to get there. I thought no one would come, but when I started playing and turned around, there were like 2,000 people. The most interesting thing is that in the middle of the concert I hear a trumpet, and it was Paolo who had climbed a tree and started playing. When that happened I thought “we have to do something because that one is buzzing”. And from that day until today we have continued playing, we are together sharing what comes to us, and I love that because in concerts we never know what is going to happen. That’s why I do Jazz, because of the philosophy that it entails, which is the philosophy of freedom.
This philosophy is missing in society
Technology has helped us in many things, but it has also made us more imprisoned, it has awakened in our subconscious stories of negativity that in another time you had to look for, or that touched you on the path of your life. Now they are in front of you every second. Empathy is lost, consensus is lost due to the history of the superhero, power, money, fame and stardom. The goal isn’t important, it’s enjoying the journey, that’s why I love playing freely.
¿Cómo and el panorama musical de Barcelona?
If they don’t want you, they don’t want you, this depends on the programmers. It’s easier for me to play in New York than in Barcelona. I play every year in New York, in Paris, I also did it in Tokyo until they closed due to the pandemic, but in Barcelona I couldn’t. You can’t imagine how many great musicians live here, and people don’t even know about them. It is no longer a problem of whether it is a bad site or a good site, it is that perhaps you have to do it as it is the site, and that depends on everyone.
Is there a lack of rooms or broadcasting?
Perhaps the public is missing, tourism goes to New York looking for art, museums and music, exhibitions, also in Paris, there is always music. The same thing happens in Lyon, where I’m speaking from. It is not that things are not done in Barcelona, ??but perhaps they are not aimed at turning it into a cultural city. If people don’t come here to see concerts, it will be difficult.
We must not lose hope
Life is cyclical, one day I will play and I would love to do other projects. During the covid I wrote a classical string quartet that I am trying to put in a conservatory, and there is no way. But I have faith, one day I will meet the director in a local, we will have a wine and he will tell me “come to the school”. Everything is about connections in this life.
In addition to living in Barcelona, ??he has taught at the Taller de Musics
I had a wonderful opportunity to create a project with the boys, and I hope it will be repeated. It was a project that came out of Barcelona but we never played in the city. We played in Madrid, in France, in Portugal, in the south of Spain, but we could never play in Barcelona. That saddened me, but it’s life.
In Cuba, his country of origin, there is music everywhere
It’s a quarry, you kick the ground and a band comes out, but a lot has changed. Technological globalization that has given everyone all the information ends up permeating our subconscious and makes everyone end up fighting for the same goal: fame, power and money. It happens all over the world, you go to New York and it’s the same as in Hong Kong, Morocco or Algeria, although with the realities of each culture. In many ways globalization is positive, but it is standardizing the planet in one path. You see this in music, now everyone has to play reggaeton, but there is more music.
Your bond with Africa is a way to resist this uniformity
Yes, and also a way to answer the classic question: where do I come from. Africa has given me many answers, others I cannot find, especially when I see what is happening there and how we are losing our cultures and traditions. I try to carry it through music and what comes most naturally to me, which is composing. When I teach a class I focus on finding the essence of freedom, because in jazz what often happens is that you do what’s fashionable. On the other hand, if you do what comes to your mind, you may never be in style but at least it is you, and you are defending what is coming to you.
In your case it’s always changing
I defend consensus, unity, sharing, we are all. But you are you and I am me, and with your you and with me we can be a more beautiful whole.
