Ana Carla Maza - ALAMAR
The cellist, singer, and composer Ana Carla Maza recently released the single "A Tomar Café" from her new album "Bahía," which was released on February 25, 2022, by Persona Editorial Records.
Bahía is a beautiful blend of classical cello and vocals, drawing on Cuban son, samba, bossa nova, tango, jazz, and chanson. It begins with "Habana," where she was born into a musical family 26 years ago – her father, the celebrated Chilean pianist Carlos Maza, and her mother, the Cuban guitarist Mirza Sierra. The title track "Bahia" is an ode to the neighborhood in Havana where she spent her childhood, building her memories by translating the crazy situation of Cuba into her music. The album travels through Latin America – "Huayno" is based on a Quechua rhythm and dance from Peru, "Todo Irá Bien" ("Everything will be alright"), written during the lockdown, relies on the Cuban son, and "Astor Piazzolla" on tango, which she originally composed for a quartet on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the Argentine composer.
The album was recorded acoustically in Barcelona in one take: "direct, simple, sincere in one go, one afternoon was enough." For Ana Carla, it is an album after the pandemic, where the significance of the present cannot be emphasized enough. For example, in "Petit Français," there is no subtext: "Once I was in Paris, went to a café, the Saint-Regis, and exchanged love letters with a boy." That's all.
At the age of 5, Ana Carla began playing the piano, taught by Miriam Valdés, the sister of pianist Chucho Valdés. Miriam Valdés passed away in October of this year from Covid-19, and Ana Carla has dedicated the closing track on Bahía to her: "When I was making the recordings, I imagined her sitting in her Cuban chair at the piano. It is said that as an artist, one must know how to express pain, and that singing is a relief, but for me, it is also a way to capture moments of love."
Ana Carla began playing the cello at the age of 8 and first took the stage in Havana at the age of nearly 10. At 13, she participated in an album of the project Carlos Maza en Familia, and at 14, she played on the album Quererte. She moved to Paris in 2012 to study at the conservatory and began a solo career, performing throughout Europe and meeting the inspiring cellist Vincent Segal during this time. In 2016, she released Solo Acoustic Concert, inspired by the musical traditions of her childhood, from Brazilian bossa nova to Cuban habanera through a larger musical vocabulary, and in 2020, she released La Flor. Both albums include Latin American rhythms, pop melodies, jazz harmonies, and classical techniques. Bahia, which will be released in February 2022, is another step on this musical journey.
Admission at 7 PM
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
