OMAR S O S A

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Omar Sosa in concert
Background information
Born April 10, 1965 (1965-04-10) (age 45)
Origin Camagüey, Cuba
Genres Afro-Cuban, jazz
Occupations Musician
Instruments Marimba, piano, Rhodes piano
Associated acts John Santos, Greg Landau, Afreecanos
Website
http://www.omarsosa.com/
Members
Childo Tomas, Marque Gilmore, Leandro Saint-Hill
Notable instruments
Marimba, piano, Rhodes piano

Omar Sosa (born April 10, 1965, in Camagüey, Cuba) is a composer, bandleader, and jazz pianist.

Biography
Sosa began studying marimba at age eight, then switched to piano at the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Havana, where he studied jazz. Sosa moved to Quito, Ecuador in 1993, then San Francisco, California in 1995. In San Francisco he became deeply involved in the local Latin jazz scene and began a long collaboration with percussionist John Santos. He also made a series of recordings with producer Greg Landau, including the ground-breaking Oaktown Irawo, featuring Tower of Power drummer Dave Garibaldi, Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry and Cuban percussionist Jesus Diaz. Sosa and Landau recorded with Carlos "Patato" Valdes and Pancho Quinto and worked on several film scores. In approximately 1999 Sosa moved to Barcelona, Spain.

Musical style
He has played with a number of world musicians all around the globe, and often collaborates with those outside the jazz and Afro-Cuban traditions. Sosa mixes jazz influences alongside Latin rhythms, North African percussions and spoken word/rap lyrics. He also references Classical music. Deeply political and spiritual, he describes his music as an expression of humanism and Santeria. On various projects his sounds have ranged from pleasant and melodic, big Latin band, piano improvization, world music, to free jazz and avant-garde.
Current projects
Omar recently collaborated once again with Greg Landau for a CD with Peruvian singer Susana Baca, deconstructing the music of Cuban legend Bola de Nieve. His newest band, Afreecanos, explores African traditions in a mixture that breaks many conventions of jazz and World music.[citation needed] The band, which includes musicians from Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and France, released a CD in 2009 and went on a world tour in early 2010.