There wasn’t an empty seat to be seen in the Telus Studio Theatre at the Chan Centre, packed to the brim last Friday night for SUBA Trio’s concert of Afro-Caribbean fusion. The three musicians entered, the crowd screamed and then sat as the musicians played for an almost-uninterrupted two hours.
The trio consisting of jazz pianist Omar Sosa, kora master and singer Seckou Keita and percussionist Gustavo Ovalles, have been collaborating and performing together for years. SUBA, their second album, means sunrise in Madinka, Keita’s native language, and their concert featured songs from the album itself, along with riffs and improvisations on their music. According to Sosa, their goal was to share peace, love and unity by engaging with the crowd.
“The music is meditative, you come into a trance, and [then] it’s a moment ending in a big party,” said Sosa. “We’re all going to end [by] dancing, because that’s the idea: happiness.”
All three SUBA trio artists are successful musicians in their own right. Sosa has released over 30 albums and received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates of Washington D.C. for his work in the Latin jazz scene. Keita is recognized as one of the best kora players in the world, and in 2019 he was dubbed the “folk musician of the year” by BBC Radio 2. Ovalles has been working as a percussionist since 1995, and has performed all over the world in venues including Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Sosa said he’s unsure exactly how long he and Keita have been working together.
“Well, it's more than 14,15 years. You know, time doesn't exist. Time is [an] illusion we create. Time doesn't exist. So like 2012 or like 2011?” said Sosa.
As musicians, SUBA try to bring each of their unique backgrounds to their work, blending them together to create something new. Sosa is Afro-Cuban, Keito is Senegalese and Ovalles is Afro-Venezuelan. Taking their cultures, along with some jazz flavour and unique instruments like the kora, synthesizers, maracas and running water, they transformed their individual music into something completely different. Sosa described this fusion like eating at a dinner table.
“You have a plate in the centre with different types of ingredients. Some food, maybe you don't know, but you're open to eat,” said Sosa. “This is basically what we do with SUBA Trio. We take our spices and we put [them] together and respect each other, listen to each other. And when the dish is ready, we share it with people.”
The language barriers within the group tend to inspire this fusion, which Keito explained during the only brief break in the show.
“You know we have a language barrier here between us. Omar [Sosa] and I always speak in English, Gustavo [Ovalles] is out,” said Keito. “Between myself and Gustavo [Ovalles], when we start speaking French, Omar [Sosa] is out … Gustavo [Ovalles] and Omar [Sosa], when they start speaking Spanish, I am out.”
However, he explained, when you’re on a stage, the music is the language.
Recently, Sosa said, he’s been very distressed by the state of the world. He cited many concerns, including obsession with money, lack of care from world leaders and geopolitical conflict among others. However, he said, he uses music to convey a feeling of peace and love to other people.
“The way we do things, the way I do things, I try to express what my spirit and my ancestors try to tell me all the time. They always say to me, peace, love and unity is the solution. It's not important what my background [is]. We're all going to die. Memento mori,” said Sosa.
Getting this concert and the trio in the same place was difficult, Sosa said. At one point, it didn’t seem like Ovalles would be able to travel.
“They denied Gustavo's visa. Why? Because he's Venezuelan. If he's American, they [would] give a visa to him. If he's French, they [would] give a visa to him. But because he comes from a poor country like me, [I come] from Cuba. So we are people from the second class,” said Sosa. Luckily, they were able to get him a visa in time.
Throughout the concert, it was clear the audience could feel SUBA’s love. As they snapped, clapped and sang along, Keita encouraged them to stand and dance while Sosa taught them some Cuban rhythms. Looking around, it was hard to find anybody who wasn’t at least tapping along to the beat, including the ushers.
At one point, Sosa conducted the crowd in the Cuban clap — three long claps, followed by two short ones. He split the rhythm and the audience up, encouraging one side to do the three long, and the other the two short. He switched out which side clapped each rhythm unpredictably, laughing as the audience tried to follow along and match his speed.
Their concert was more like a marathon than a musical show. There were no breaks — as soon as one song ended, the next would begin with the tuning of instruments, the clapping of hands or the stomping of feet. Musicians jumped from instrument to instrument with ease, cheering each other on and teasing as they danced. Throughout it all, the audience was there to encourage their every note. When the concert concluded, SUBA ended up playing several encores — the audience just wasn’t ready for them to stop making music.
Sosa said he loves performing in Vancouver because of the welcome people bring.
“I love Vancouver … even if it’s a cold city, when people come to the theatre, they feel like they are in the Caribbean," said Sosa.
