SSV Stuff!!!

Me;shell NdegeoCello: Call Me.
Kenny Barron / Charlie Haden: Body and Soul. 

Me'shell NdegeoCello Kenny Barron Charlie Haden

Brownswood and Havana Cultura are delighted to announce this new EP from Cuban singer, composer, arranger, choir director, and band leader Daymé Arocena. At just 22 years old, Daymé is already a skillful, charismatic presence in Cuban music. 

Daymé first came to the attention of François Renié, Communications Director at Cuban rum maker Havana Club and founder of the Havana Cultura platform (which co-produced the Havana Cultura album series with Brownswood Recordings) in 2008. He recalls: “Gilles and I met Dayme for the first time on Gilles' first trip to Cuba, with Edrey [from Grammy nominated Cuban project Ogguere] improvising a rumba session at a friend’s place. She started to sing and we were amazed. She was just a teenager." She already knew and listened to the singers, rappers and musicians involved in the Havana Cultura project, but was considered too young to join in. But, just a few years later, her time came with the Havana Cultura Mix project, which saw Gilles Peterson mentoring selected producers from around the world to make a record in Cuba with local musicians. She auditioned, prompting all the producers to decide they wanted to work with her. In the end, she sung on three tracks on the album, including the massive U Knew Before. Seeing huge potential in her, Gilles invited her to London to perform at the album launch event, where she enchanted the packed out audience, and it was decided she should record a solo project for Brownswood Recordings and Havana Cultura. The announcement brought out a loud, rich, infectious laugh instantly recognizable as Dayme’s deep and chocolaty voice. “My first record, here,” she squeals. “It’s a crazy dream.” 

Recorded in just a few days in London and Havana, The Havana Cultura Sessions EP is a great introduction to Daymé’s broad ranging musical talent. Drama showcases her trademark mix of jazz and Latin styles. El Ruso is what Dayme calls ‘a funny song.’  Its story covers her mother’s enforced study of Russian during the heyday of Cuba’s relationship with the Soviets. “Life never says it; does truth tell a lie?” she sings. On Sin Empezar Daymé glows with the range and use of tones in a superb song. Mellow and slow, its moving and stunning inclusion of the trumpet playing slowly with elongated notes. The sharp and crisp drumming and the piano’s impressively subtle phrasesall work in harmony with the chorus and Dayme’s unusually delicate voice in response to some lyrics. A deep ruumba re-imagining of the American torch song Cry Me a River completes the package. 

Daymé Arocena’s The Havana Cultura EP is released on Brownswood Recordings on the 30th May on CD and digital download.  

About Havana Cultura: 
Launched in 2007, Havana Cultura is Cuban rum maker Havana Club’s global platform for the promotion of contemporary Cuban creativity. Its main activities include showcasing the work of artists across various disciplines—including music, visual and performing arts, cinema and literature — through a rich multimedia website as well as the development of cultural projects. 


Daymé Arocena - Cry Me A River

Brownswood Recordings are proud to present this latest track from the Havana Cultura Sessions EP due for release on the 30th March. "Drama" showcases Daymé's trademark mix of influences from classical Cuban Rumba to US Jazz. 

Credits: 
Vocals: Daymé Arocena; 
Bongos, Congas, Cajon & Shakers:  Oli Savill; 
Piano: Rob Mitchell; 
Double Bass: Neil Charles; 
Cajon & Shakers: Simbad; 
Djembe: Maitre Samsou
Produced by Gilles Peterson and Simbad

Daymé plays the following European shows 
Duc Du Lombards Paris on the 16th April 
St Pancras Church London on the 20th April

Like Daymé on Facebook! 
https://www.facebook.com/dayme.arocena

With thanks to Havana-Cultura.com




Daymé Arocena - Drama

My Mind Is A Topology (Symphonic Version)

Opening Invocation (Spoken, whispered with rising orchestral hum)
My mind is a topology…
from the way I think of me,
to the difference between me—
where one state starts, another plagiarizes another.
After a while, or so, I slow to a flow
that underestimates my expectations.

Interlude (strings swell, soft piano arpeggios)
From here, after a while,
even time remembers to rehearse time’s universal verse.
After a moment or so
you’ll feel the difference take you away from your indifferences.

Verse 1 (sung, airy female vocal with male echo)
Don’t ask me where my mind begins,
it has no edge, no walls, no skin.
It loops, it folds, it climbs, it bends,
a Möbius strip that never ends.

Bridge A (spoken, layered over shimmering synths)
Between here and now…
become your reckoning’s awakening.
Between the differences in the scene—
mind the scenery.

Chorus (full choir with strings & brass)
🎶 My mind is a topology—
not a thought, but the shape of me.
Not a dot on a chart, but a field in bloom,
where memory curves and futures loom. 🎶

Verse 2 (sung, more intense, drums and bass enter)
Thoughts aren’t lines, they spiral wide,
through folded space where selves collide.
You try to map me, I shift phase,
a conscious knot through quantum haze.

Bridge B (spoken, almost prophetic, with orchestra surging beneath)
After you become the differences between time,
invite your mind to remind you of now.
Each idea… a torsion twist.
Each belief… a surface shift.
What I am is not where I’ve been—
it’s how I’ve curved what lies within.

Chorus (repeated, soaring with gospel choir textures)
🎶 My mind is a topology—
laced with light and anomaly.
So don’t seek truth in what you see—
seek the fold… and find me free. 🎶

Final Spoken Word (over fading orchestra, strings dissolving into silence)
Life after thought is a topology too—
from difference to difference, from now to now.
After a while, the spiral becomes the song.
After a moment, the song becomes the mind.
And the mind… becomes free.

Times Universal Verse

Gone

You Cannot Stop the Night (Feat. EchoPop)

Album out now!  Miguel Migs & Om Records are proud to present "Outside The Skyline", the third artist album from Miguel Migs, a genre-crossing creation including collaborations with an extraordinary range of vocal talents: original disco diva Evelyn "Champagne" King, first lady of musicianship Meshell Ndegeocello, Berlin based singer Georg Levin, bossa nova phenomenon Bebel Gilberto, UK soul sensation Sonny J Mason, and reggae legends Half Pint, Freddie McGregor and Capleton, alongside two vocalists who have been regular co-conspirators over the years, Aya and Lisa Shaw. 

www.miguelmigs.com

That Was Then (Album Version)

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