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Health & Fitness

SOPAC: Cuban + Italian Jazzy Sounds Combine on the SOPAC Stage 2/1

Jazzy Sounds of Cuba + Italy Combine on the SOPAC Stage 2/1

 

5000 miles and the Atlantic Ocean separate Sardinia and Cuba, birth places of Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa. Yet these two improvisers and genius composers found a way to eliminate the distance to form an unusual duo.  They’ve even found a way to come together to South Orange onto the SOPAC stage for one-night only February 1st.

Their latest album Alma celebrates this new collaboration between six-time Grammy-nominated Cuban composer and pianist Omar Sosa and celebrated Italian trumpet and flugelhorn player Paolo Fresu.  On Alma, the compositions are all written by Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu, except for "Under African Skies", a version of the popular track from Paul Simon's Graceland. Sosa first invited Fresu to join his band as a guest for a concert at NDR in Hamburg in 2007 and they toured together in Italy in July 2009. The special musical chemistry they discovered inspired them to plan a duo recording.           

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The music on Alma is generally melodic and medium-paced, except for a fiery version of Omar's composition "Angustia." Fresu's flugelhorn work is sweet and warm and the rich and playful musical connection between Fresu and Sosa is evident throughout the recording.

 

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FRI 2/1 @ 8:00PM – Omar Sosa + Paolo Fresu

Where: South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC), 1 SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079

Tickets: $25-35. To purchase, visit SOPACnow.org or call 973.313.ARTS.

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