Sometido por John Murph
John Santos
John Santos provides further evidence as to why he’s one of today’s most significant figures in Afro-Cuban music. Not only does he demonstrate superb command as a percussionist, composer and bandleader, he knows how to deliver music that moves the mind and hearts as well as the body. Such is the case for the dazzling Filosofía Caribeña, Vol. 1, a non-stop body rocker that demands repeated listening because of its infectious rhythms and erudite intents. Santos underscores this music with political themes, touching upon the many commonalities between African-American and Latino communities in hopes to restore the once strong bonds. He pays tribute to numerous figures, ranging from Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa and percussionists Armando Peraza and Francisco Aguabella to his Cape Verdean father and San Francisco Bay Area mentors, Ron Stallings and Allen Smith.
The thematic eminence certainly lifts the music, most noticeably on John Calloway’s He Was One Of Us, which begins with Melecio Magdaluyo’s gushing tenor saxophone before the music quickly quells into pneumatic balladry, paving the way for Calloway’s ebullient flute solo. Santos’ gorgeous No Soy Combatiente, which features passionate lead vocals from Claudia Gómez and Pável Urkiza, and the anthemic Resistencia (Resistance), which provides the discs funkiest percussion breakdown. All of the compositions are sharply composed and arranged; they also allot plenty of space for extensive solos and group interplay yet also contain enough ingenious structures and melodic passages to prevent autopilot bluster. Santos fuels La Esperanza with similar auspiciousness.
This time he focuses more on traditional songs drawn from the Afro-Latin canon. Pairing down the instrumentation to mostly percussion, vocals, bass and strings, songs such as Shangó and Obatalá haunt and hypnotize because of their passionate antiphonic singing and rhythmic complexities. As Santos indicates in the liner notes, each song pays homage to significant sociopolitical activists and artists ranging from Amiri Baraka, Abbey Lincoln and Jiddu Krishnamurti on the enchanting Santos original La Esperanza to Felipe Alfonso Pérez founding member of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba on the gripping Tiempos de Oyá. Riveting throughout, La Esperanza is yet another shining jewel in Santos’ curatorial crown.
