Miguel 'Anga' Diaz - Echu Mingua
2005

Miguel 'Anga' Diaz, the best conga player in the world, had a chance for a solo album after having an impressive history with Irakere and later with Afro-Cuban All Stars. Unfortunately, one year later he died of a heart attack. RIP Anga.

Featuring -
Buena Vista Social Club's Cachaito, Ruben Gonzalez and Roberto Fonseca
French DJ Dee Nasty and Mali's Baba Sissoko
Chucho Valdes & Irakere (on Conga Carnaval)

Brought to you by TQMP
The Quality Music Project

After the wild success of the Buena Vista Social Club, there was an almost insane rush by record companies to put out as many CDs as possible featuring Cuban musicians. The upside of this trend put Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez and Cachaito Lopez on the American song map. The downside was a lack of real innovation. There wasn't an interest in breaking the mold; recording companies seemed almost reluctant to stray from the formula that brought in the big bucks. As luck would have it World Circuit Production has given Miguel 'Anga' Diaz his chance as a bandleader on his debut album, Echu Mingua, and he's created something new out of the traditional that really bends the ear of Cuban music.

Echu Mingua, dubbed a musical religious service, flies in the face of tradition without loosing the traditional aspect of the precepts of Cuban music. It's smart and innovative, stretching the boundaries, while incorporating the mastery of both Cachaito and Ruben Gonzalez with edgy work French DJ Dee Nasty and Mali's Baba Sissoko.

Famed conguero, Diaz started out by studying with the rumba players in Pinar del Rio, Cuba and went on to co-found the group Irakere. He later joined the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Possessing an interest beyond the Cuban genre and working with such talents as singer Ibrahim Ferrer, pianist Ruben Gonzalez and Manuel Galban, Diaz has collaborated with Ry Cooder and jazzmen Steve Coleman and Roy Hargrove. Echu Mingua reflects Diaz's interest in mixed forms, shading traditional Cuban with the experimental and jazz elements.

Echu Mingua opens with "San Juan y Martinez," a sound and musical collage named for the town where Diaz was born. This musical nod to his town is as Diaz puts it in the liner notes, "…as a beginning to it all." "San Juan y Martinez" fades into "Rezos." This track begins with Yoruba chanting and some rough instrumentals before changing midstream into a smooth funk sound featuring Diaz's on congas, Roberto Fonseca's piano and Orlando 'Cachaito' Lopez on bass. 

"Pueblo Nuevo" is perhaps the most traditional piece on the CD. It's Ruben Gonzalez's piano solo that charges the piece with a vibrancy only Gonzalez was capable of. 

"Tume Tume" is a piece offered by Baba Sissoko and it's a stand out, combining a Cuban and Malian connection set off with Malik Mezzadri on flute, Dee Nasty on turntables, Gregorio Rios Maximino Duquesne Martinez and Lazaro Dayan Soria on shekere and bata, Diaz on congas, Cachaito on bass and Baba Sissoko on vocals, tamani and n'goni. 

Diaz's jazz interpretations of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Theolonious Monk's "Round Midnight" are the two stellar pieces on the CD. "A Love Supreme" is tight and neat with Diaz's intricate conga work and Vaure Muniz on trumpet and Alfred Thompson on tenor saxophone; add to that Sissoko on vocals, three cora players, six violinists and four cellists, timbales, bata and Dee Nasty on turntables and the piece just shines. In contrast "Round Midnight" is lovely and spare, featuring Cachaito on bass, violinists Pierre Blanchard and Claire Merlet, violist Alfonso Pacin and cellist Jean Francois Ott. Diaz's decision to take over the melody with a series of seven congas brings this jazz standard to a new level.

"Oda Martima" with its Argentinean flair is yet another fine piece with Roberto Fonseca on piano, and Pablo Nemirovsky on bandoneon. Diaz joins his band mates from Irakere on "Conga Carnaval," written by Chucho Valdes, but it is Dee Nasty's turntables that set fire to this track. 

Echu Mingua is the saint's name in the Yoruba religion explains Diaz. "The 'Echu' is Eleggua, the God of crossroads," says Diaz, as he explains that CD is the culmination of his years of musical experience. Echu Mingua makes it apparent that Diaz is at the center of many intersections and is adept at breaking the mold in creating something new at the crossroads.
-- World Music Central

Tracks
01- San Juan y MartÐŽnez
02- Rezos
03- Pueblo Nuevo
04- Tum‚ Tum‚
05- A Love Supreme
06- Gandinga mondongo sandunga
07- Dracula Simon
08- Round Midnight
09- Jerry's Tune
10- Oda Maritima
11- Freeform
12- Conga Carnaval
13- Closing

Artwork, EAC log and CUE sheet included.

Audio format: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) 
http://flac.sourceforge.net/index.html 

Enjoy, seed and inhale!

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