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Yusa (Cuba)
Song : Chiquichaca
Album : Yusa (Tumi, UK)
Visit :
Elsewhere in ±«Óătvi : Listen to a World Routes interview Album review
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Though she was born in Havana's charming seaside suburb of Buena Vista, Yusa's music has almost nothing in common with that of the infamous Social Club who took their name from her Barrio. Yusa's eponymously titled debut album showcases an eclectic mix of styles which more accurately reflect the musical multiplicity of contemporary Cuban culture. But while it has none of their sepia toned nostalgia for a lost era, nor does it owe anything to salsa.
Instead, Yusa draws some of her inspiration from the nueva trova tradition, with an emphasis on bolero and filin  she even recorded most of it in the studio of Pablo Milanés. She has a soft spot for the local rumba, if A Las Doce is anything to go by, but she also casts her net wider, and the influence of North American pop and jazz and even Brazilian music is obvious to even the casual listener. She's been likened to Tracey Chapman, which has long been the fate of all young black guitar-toting women who write their own songs. Tracey Thorn is probably a better comparison in vocal terms, although this multi-talented artist also plays bass and keyboards on the album.
Yusa had the benefit of studying at Havana's Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, where one of her colleagues was Roberto Carcassés, son of the one and only Bobby Carcassés. During her time there, she also picked up the cuban tres, which she loved so much, she graduated in the instrument.
In the years before making her debut recording, she and Domingo Candelario formed a guitar-and-voice duo, and Yusa also made an impression around town as part of the all-woman quintet Quasi Jazz. Both these aspects of her previous career are recalled on the new album. There were far more female musicians involved in it than any recent Cuban release you care to name, and there's also a lively intuitive jazz scat duet with Domingo. Her old classmate Roberto Carcassés also turns up on Fender Rhodes, adding a loungey ambience in more reflective moments.
Her recent live performances in Europe have met with an enthusiastic critical response, and fluent Spanish speakers will enjoy the added dimension of her lyrics, which feature such poetic lines as: 'How can I change / The print of your embrace / Without even brushing the idea / Of filling the spaces / That only you leave.' Is it any surprise that she's been nominated for an award in two categories?
Jon Lusk 2002
Latin Links: read on
More Cuban music on Radio 3:
Cuban bata drumming in London
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