© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Tiny Desk Concerts from NPR's All Songs Considered features your favorite musicians performing at Bob Boilen's desk in the NPR Music office. This is the AUDIO only archive.Are you a fancy A/V nerd and need video? Visit our new Tiny Desk Concert video channel. Eye-popping video and all of the music you've come to expect.

Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu: Tiny Desk Concert

You don't really listen to an Omar Sosa concert so much as experience it. The Cuban-born pianist's overall demeanor exudes a sense of calm and deep reflection, while a spiritual connection to music and his ancestors comes through in his piano playing.

You can hear Sosa draw on more than 100 years of Cuban piano in the recognizable rhythms of his country's music. But in Sosa's hands, it's not all fiery and bombastic; he's most effective when he uses Afro-Cuban tradition as a guide to his distinct, subtle and nuanced approach.

In Paolo Fresu, Sosa has found a sympathetic musical partner. Fresu's work on trumpet and flugelhorn provides a perfect foil for Sosa's introspective intersection of jazz, Afro-Cuban sounds and a chamber-music mentality.

Sosa and Fresu's quietly energetic performance behind Bob Boilen's desk enveloped everyone in attendance like a soft mist. Fresu's use of digital delay never clashed with Sosa' acoustic piano, instead adding another color to the palette; at times, Fresu uses it to add a layer of rhythm with either the ring on his finger or a blowing technique into his horn.

Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu were as much fun to watch as they were to hear. Watch this Tiny Desk Concert and see for yourself.

Set List

  • "Alma"
  • "S'Inguldu"
  • Credits

    Producer: Felix Contreras; Editor: Denise DeBelius; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Gabriella Garcia-Pardo; photo by Lizzie Chen/NPR

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
    Related Content
    • Yo La Tengo's sound has evolved quite a bit since Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan first jammed together in 1984; the feedback has subsided, replaced by a more contemplative vibe.
    • Before playing Bob Boilen's desk, the Danish band ransacked the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material. Trying ideas it's never tried, Efterklang fleshes out its gorgeous sound in unexpected ways.
    • Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale get a lot done with subtle gestures, but there's real sophistication to the three gorgeous, harmony-rich folk-pop songs they recently performed in the NPR Music offices.