I would like to thank all the fantastic musicians who have appeared in this new Diáspora album: Rea Qunta, Daniela Gallini, Tony Rubet, Will Barry, Will McGee, Fernando Depestre, Lilli Elina, Harry Hincapie, Oliver Syrus, Joe Fenning, Tom Harrison. I would also like to thank the talented producers who have worked behind the scenes: Jessica Corcoran (Gubbins Productions / Gravity Shack / Perry Vale Studios), Gavin Beckwith (GB Sound), Dipesh Silwah (Cineview Studios), Jonathan Newton (Newton Design), Claire Ette and Pamela Molina (Red & Black Music / Tiger Music Entertainment). Without you, the album would not have been possible!

Muchas gracias a los músicos fantásticos que han trabajo en el nuevo album de Diáspora: Rea Qunta, Daniela Gallini, Tony Rubet, Will Barry, Will McGee, Fernando Depestre, Lilli Elina, Harry Hincapie, Oliver Syrus, Joe Fenning, Tom Harrison. Muchas gracias también a los productores que han trabajado bajo cuerda: Jessica Corcoran (Gubbins Productions / Gravity Shack / Perry Vale Studios), Gavin Beckwith (GB Sound), Dipesh Silwah (Cineview Studios), Jonathan Newton (Newton Design), Claire Ette and Pamela Molina (Red & Black Music / Tiger Music Entertainment). ¡Sin vosotros, este album no sería posible!

@rea_qunta @danigallini @tonyrubet @wamcgee @fernandojfdepestre @lillielina_penya @drummerharry @joe.fenning @trumpet_tom @cineviewstudios @newtondesign.co @deadlycustard @deadlycustarddesign

Info:
www.diaspora.co.uk/verano

Stream:
​ditto.fm/verano-diaspora

Like many humans, I identify patterns and discern order from chaos. I set the track order in stone back in 2019. Or rather, it presented itself to me.

Most of the tracks fall into natural pairs.

Tracks 1 Santo Mío + 2 Like A Bird are spirituals. 🕯️🦜

Tracks 3 Mañana + 4 Calle Verano were originally people-watching songs about strolling around town during the daytime. 🚲⚾️

Tracks 5 Come On Down + 6 Summer Luxury are about summer holidays. Come On Down describes a blissful experience / Summer Luxury describes a stressful experience. 🐬🌊

Tracks 7 Castillo En El Aire + 8 Mística are fairytale songs about a woman, a princess revered as a castle. 🏰✈️

Tracks 9 Escalera Al Infierno + 10 Original Rebel are “fiery” 2:3 clave, and describe vivid sensory experiences, with Escalera’s extreme temperature environments, and Original Rebel’s primary colours. 🌋🎭

There is also an internal symmetry.

Track 1 Santo Mío + 12 A Guataca are Santería-inspired. Track 2 Like A Bird + 11 No Vuelvas Nunca Más are female 3:2 clave. Track 3 Mañana + 10 Original Rebel are about mental health.

Info:
www.diaspora.co.uk/verano

Stream:
https://ditto.fm/verano-diaspora
#diaspora #verano #trackorder

A bittersweet blue rebel 🤠
A ranger on a search
To the corners of the Earth
For the cause to which I serve

We all need some sunshine in our lives… 😎☀️🌞

​Yesterday 27th March we released into the wild our new Cuban salsa album “Verano” (“Summer”). 🦜🌴

Birds… trees… summer luxuries… Diáspora’s Verano blends spirituality, summer romances and elements from the natural world. A melting pot of rhythms under the sun from Mozambique to Marcha, Guaguancó and Guiro, from the dense emerald forest and across the turquoise ocean. Let’s migrate to a hidden place somewhere across the seven seas, where wings and feathers are unfurled!

Info:
www.diaspora.co.uk/verano
🎤🎤🎤🎷🎹🎸🥁🪘🪘🎷🎺🎺

Stream:
https://ditto.fm/verano-diaspora
🤍❤️🖤💛💙

www.facebook.com/diasporamusic

“Guataca” is a spade or shovel, used to toss and turn the earth. Due to its relative ease of manufacture and widespread use in agriculture, the metal implement naturally became a percussion instrument, integrated with the singing of daily life. With its resemblance to the human ear, to play “A Guataca” became slang meaning “play by ear” (“by heart” = from memory / without a script). The finale song embodies the transcendence from the earthbound to the spiritual, the everyday and the sublime. The theme is reincarnation and rebirth, the transition from the old to the new.

I awakened from a dream to receive your message. “Go back to where you were created to discover your future.” Like the blossoming flower, I regress to my roots. I am a poor pilgrim returning to my land. Out of the dense, emerald forest and across the turquoise ocean, I arrive at the coast of my ancestors, and from the old comes a new sensation. When I feel the earth between my toes, I am blessed and saved.

Out of the night, I fly towards the light. I spread my wings, and I flex my claws. If I could reach you by the morning to feel your warm embrace, I would endure the dawning, I would pay whatever price. The stars in the darkness are the footprints of my reality. My drum is the ear of God, it opens the door to Heaven. When I play the rhythms, I let the immortal spirits guide my hands. Listen to my music of skins and sticks.

By ear, I play without a guide. I unload the earth with my song. The beats that form in my heart. Holy Spirit, my religion. By ear, I sing my song. With attack, I dance my passion. The words that give me such reason. The life force, my benediction. 🤍🌽

Where there’s a Will, there’s a Will…

Relationships can be hard, at the best of times. This song deals with the fallout that occurs after a wife has caught her husband cheating with another woman. It’s about empowerment. No longer tied down by a man who once made her blue, she is now free to detach herself. And he must deal with consequences.
​
At some level, she recognises the feelings that she still harbours. Although she can no longer see him, she wants him to see how much she is hurting. She is strong enough to acknowledge this, whilst maintaining the degree of separation.

No! He cannot go back to her house. No! He cannot return to her arms. She does not want him in her life anymore. She cannot take it. The song is full of tears, for as long as she cannot trust him, she cannot trust anyone else. 🏚️💔

OH OH WEH OH! 🎈

"The original rebel" is a wardrobe chameleon, trying on a spectrum of clothes, and relishing in the different personas that they bring. The vivid colours that result are part of the mystery revealed through experimentation... ⚪️🔴⚫️🟡🔵

The song is about dating apps. The theme is validation. Facing off our demons. Infatuated with her match, she gives him all the choice and free will, while subjugating herself, at the cost of her ego, identity, dignity, and sense of belonging. 💇🏻‍♀️💄🕯️

“The original rebel” is on a path of self-rejection and self-destruction. Shameless. Thankless. She is out there for what she can get. In return, she will give it what it’s worth. Bittersweet and blue, a chaser on a search, to the corners of the Earth, for “the one” to who she serves. And forever singing “oh… oh, oh, weh oh…”

“The one” can channel her in, channel her out, expand her profile pic to see what she’s all about. In this digital game, she can play it soft, play it hard, or turn up the heat until the game turns into something serious.

She can dance for him, all night, to help him forget who he is and where he came from. She can be whoever he wants her to be. She will live up to the tarnish. She will risk his reputation, 'til they finish what they started.

And if he really wants and needs it, she will give him her number. She knows what he is calling for… She knows to whom she is answerable for…
And here is our own original (founding member), yet not so rebellious, William McGee, to complete the picture!

Swipe what you cannot solve, and return to the hive.
I’ve got the rebels, and I’ll give you five. ⭐️ 
White, red, black, yellow, and blue.
The rebel of tint is your chosen hue.

The vivid colours that result are part of the mystery revealed through experimentation...
⚪️🔴⚫️🟡🔵
#originalrebel #excludedfromthechurch 🎭
#whichrebel #findyourcolour
​
https://soundcloud.com/redandblackmusic/snippet-10-original-rebel
#diaspora #verano channelling in on a digital platform near you #27thMarch
https://ditto.fm/verano-diaspora