WNYC Weekly Roundup: OKAN Explore the African Roots Of Cuban Music

[WNYC]

Okan is a duo of singers Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne, and they’ve just released their third album, called Okantomi. This is a group that draws heavily on the sounds of Santiago de Cuba, the city associated with such foundational styles as son and conga. Some of Okan’s songs show their African roots more clearly than others (a few are just for the traditional combination of voices and percussion), but many display the duo’s knack for incorporating elements of jazz and pop. (They’ll actually be taking part in the Winter Jazzfest here in New York in January, and dropping by our studio then too.) This song, “La Reina del Norte,” or “the queen of the north,” has the propulsive sound of Afro-Cuban percussion driving the whole thing, but the harmony vocals, fiddling, and keyboards show just how easily those African roots have grown into more contemporary Western sounds.