New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On his forthcoming release La Gran Diversión, famed, GRAMMY-nominated pianist Roberto
Fonseca conjures up an exhilarating homage to the rollicking sounds of Cuba in the '30s that he describes as "the most personal record of my life. There are stories told through music. The project for which I would like to be identified."
Fonseca adds that his stylized fusion of time-honored Cuban rhythms laced at times with R&B and funk "is a tribute to my roots and above all to traditional Cuban music due to the great connection and acceptance of the public from the '30s to the present, music that is remembered from New York to Paris."
Co-produced by
Fonseca and
Daniel Florestano, La Gran Diversión was recorded in Havana, Paris and New York, and it already has spawned two classic singles: Maní Mambo and Sal Al Malecón. Among the standout guest performers are guitarist,
Jorge Luis Chicoy; violinist,
Regina Carter; Buena Vista Social Club vocalist,
Carlos Calunga; and Dutch EMD singer, Clarence Bekker.
Lauded as "a charismatic sparkplug of a pianist from Cuba," by the New York Times,
Fonseca has been at the forefront of Cuban music for over 20 years, releasing an extensive catalog of solo albums interspersed with his participation in the Buena Vista Social Club, his tours with singer-songwriter Ibrahim Ferrer (1927-2005) and his work as musical director on the tours of singer, Omara Portuondo.
His much-praised 2007 offering Zamazu proved him to be a very capable performer and composer in his own right. The album yielded the song Llegó Cachaito, which appeared in the 2008
Will Smith movie Hancock. His 2012 Grammy-nominated full length Yo featured Fatoumata Diawara, the Malian star with whom
Fonseca later engaged in an acclaimed live collaboration and participated on his album London Ko.
Fonseca is currently supporting La Gran Diversión with his Roberto
Fonseca on Tour, a European trek that is scheduled to stop in the following cities:
9/27/23 - Festival Biarritz Amérique Latine FR
10/21/23 - Nimes Metropole Jazz FR
11/2/23 - Oslo World - Oslo NO
11/4/23 - Palladium - Malmo SE
11/24/23 - Éclats d'Email - Limoges FR
11/26/23 - Le Bouef Sur Le Toit - Lons Le Saunier FR
12/5/23 - Olympia - Paris FR
