Lo Ke Ba and Delirio

 

"Pretty amazing contemporary Salsa" - Snowboy

 

Listen to La Copa De La Suerte on 88.5WMX Tampa Florida - Thanks DJ Speedy Gonzalez!

 

"Such a great album. I have it on in the car regularly" Richard Fallon Oursalsasoul.com 

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'Hi Guys, I have added your track 'La Copa De La Suerte' firmly to my playlist on salsa floors wherever play. The vibrant earthy rhythms has people asking who this track is by regularly, and it will also feature on my radio shows going forward. Well done. DJ Hughie (colourful.com, and jfsr.co.uk)'

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Delirio by Lo Ke Ba is an original album of Afro-Cuban music that draws inspiration from a mix of modern and traditional styles - Salsa, Timba, Son, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba, Batá and Bembe.

 

It grew from a 20-year exchange of friendship, culture, music, religion and ideas between the UK and Cuba. 

 

Since 2002, percussionist Rich Kensington has journeyed from Croydon to his teacher, friend and mentor Chaguito (Santiago Garzón Rill) in Havana. Ten years after his first trip, he sat on the roof of the Hotel Lincoln listening to what Frank ‘El Matador’ Oropesa had to say: ‘It’s good to have spent all of these years coming to Cuba to learn our traditions but now you must make the music your own’. The message from the world renowned bongocero planted the seed that was to become Delirio.

 

Not long after recording with Rich in the studio of El Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñero, Adriana Lord set off on her own journey, from Cuba to the UK. After establishing herself as a singer in the UK music scene, Adriana once again met up with Rich and the pair started writing, joined by Matt Baker on piano. 

 

Matt completed the circle with his own journey to Havana to meet and work with Chaguito on ideas for the album, bringing not only Chaguito’s words and melodies, but the events which surrounded their writing, to the songs themselves. *

 

In Delirio, Adriana, Rich and Matt create eight songs, sung in both Spanish and English by Adriana, about the world as they see it, the lives they have led and the struggles they have encountered, within themselves and between people, under two opposing ideological systems. It’s an album that makes you want to move and gives you something to think about.

 

The Axis Percussion Trio – Rich with Dave Boston (bongos) and Simon Bowhill (timbales) – form the rhythmic backbone to Lo Ke Ba accompanied by Matt Baker on piano. The album features performances from Colombian singer and percussionist Rodry-Go (Mercado Negro), trumpeter Giovanni Siveroni and trombonist Landy Díaz and grooves on a bed of bass provided by Dimitris Christopoulos and baritone saxophonist Nichola Pope. 

 

Delirio was produced by Richard Kensington and Matt Baker in collaboration with Alex Wilson and Eliane Correa. It was mixed and mastered by Jose Mendoza Colmenares (Oscar D’ León). The cover design is by Cuban artist, RAUPA. 

 

*Embodied in pieces such as ‘Piano Apiloneao’ (a homage to Cuban pianists)