Daymé Arocena is a very young and extremely talented up-and-coming Cuban artist who already has won the hearts of influential people like Gilles Peterson. And he certainly has fallen in love with her music, signing her to his Brownswood imprint, and sharing a free download of her excellent single “Madres.”
The sound of a bare syncopated broken kalimba opens the song, and it’s followed shortly after by choir of Arocena’s layered vocals that immediately sets a ceremonial vibe. She thanks the orishas in Yoruba, and later on in Spanish, over a beat and instrumentation provided by producer Simbad, who takes the track in a dub-influenced hip hop direction. Hopefully, her upcoming releases, alongside Ibeyi‘s selftitled album, turn hipsters’ heads all around the world to the Afro-Cuban culture and its sounds.