Event Details

Venue: Main House

Date: Wed 28 Mar

Time: 7.30pm

Produced by: Serious and J-Night

Roberto Fonseca

This Buena Vista Social Club prodigy and Havana Cultura star has grabbed Cuban music by the horns and drawn it, hot, stylish and sultry, into the 21st century. Roberto Fonseca's new album, "YO", is out this spring and looks back to his Caribbean roots while striking forwards with red-hot grooves, electronic beats and sensuous lyricism that effortlessly updates Cuba's musical lineage.
 
Fonseca hits the road as the album is about to be released with a seven-date UK tour. The tour line-up features Fonseca on piano and keyboards, Baba Sissoko on African percussion, Joel Hierrezuelo on Cuban percussion, Ramsés Rodríguez on drums, Yandy Martínez on bass, Jorge Chicoy on guitar, Javier Zalba on sax, flute and clarinet and Sekou Kouyate on kora. This group is the sound of things to come in Afro-Cuban music, and with Roberto Fonseca at the helm, it is sure to be one of the live shows to catch in 2012.
 
"It's a heartbeat for contemporary Afro-Cuban life." Times
 
Opening for Roberto on this Black Routes tour is Ayanna, the first non-American to win the legendary Amateur Night Live at the Harlem Apollo, whose beguiling vocals skip and swing over intimate, honey-sweet cello. Her music was recently celebrated in an evening devoted to her work at the Kings Place Festival in London, and last year she was commissioned to write a new piece for the Bath Festival, following residencies at Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh. She’s just finished a UK tour with Natty and recording in New York with Kronos Quartet, which neatly captures her full range.
 
"Ayanna has to be heard to be believed" Time Out

For the chance to meet and greet Roberto after the concert, visit his micro-site (which also has some bonus audio-visual content)

Read the Yorkshire Post review here