Pop, rock & jazz

Ana Carla Maza

Sunday, 10/12/2023 / 08:00 PM / Jazzhaus (Jazz house) Freiburg

Rain or shine

Cellist, singer and composer Ana Carla Maza recently released the single ,,A Tomar Café" from her new album ,,Bahía", 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 26 years ago into a musical family - her father, acclaimed Chilean pianist Carlos Maza, and her mother, Cuban guitarist Mirza Sierra. The title track ,,Bahia" is an ode to the Havana neighborhood where she spent her childhood and built her memories by translating Cuba's crazy seituation 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 fine"), written during the lockdown, draws on the Cuban son and ,,Astor Piazzolla" on Tango , which she originally composed for a quartet on the occasion of the Argentine composer's 100th birthday.

Acoustically, the album was recorded 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 importance of the present cannot be overemphasized. For example, in ,,Petit Français" there is no subtext: "Once I was in Paris, I went to a café, the Saint-Regis, and I exchanged love letters with a boy." That's all.

Ana Carla began playing the piano at the age of 5, taught by Miriam Valdés, sister of the pianist Chucho Valdés. Miriam Valdés died of covid-19 this October, and Ana Carla dedicated the closing track on Bahía to her: "When I was recording, I imagined her sitting in her Cuban chair at the piano. They say that as an artist you have to know how to express pain, and that singing is a relief, but for me it's also a way to capture moments of love."
Ana Carla began playing the cello when she was 8 and performed on stage for the first time in Havana when she was barely 10. At 13, she participated in an album by the Carlos Maza en Familia project, 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 that 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 incorporate Latin rhythms, pop melodies, jazz harmonies and classical techniques. Bahia, to be released in February 2022, is another step in this musical journey.

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