Afrosideral

Singer, musician, songwriter, and producer from Cuba

Afrosideral
This week we're listening to music from island nations from around the world. Each day, we'll challenge our expectations of what we think music from a place sounds like, and listen to great music while we do. Let's go.

Today on Ecléctico you're listening to Afrosideral, the pseudonym of musician and producer Kumar Sublevao-Beat from La Habana, Cuba. His music mixes modern electronic and dub grooves with rhythms and melodies inspired by and in tribute to the legacy of the Yoruban people and its deities, the Orishas. It's the sound of Cuban music now, connected to its strong heritage while blazing forward.

"Líbrame de Arayé" by Afrosideral
2019 | Singer, musician, songwriter, and producer from Cuba


Go deeper with this excerpt from and a link to a track-by-track dive into the album with Kumar Sublevao-Beat on Jazziz:

["Líbrame de Arayé"] is a prayer to the father of all Orishas, Obatala, a deity that represents consciousness and communication, creator of all humans. Wise, just, generous, pacifistic, always acting from a place of wisdom. Arayé means “problem” – and all of those begin in the mind. Who better than him to liberate us from them?

The music is the result of a collaboration between musicians from Santiago de Cuba. It was recorded at Egrem studios at the Manana Festival, opening the door to the creation of the entire album.