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There's danzón, there's funk, there's rumba, religious incantation, hip hop and jazz -- lots of jazz, right down to versions of 'A Love Supreme' and 'Round Midnight'.

Buena Vista is the greatest thing that ever happened to Cuban music

But though (in his mid-forties) this is his début as a soloist, Díaz' pedigree is long and distinguished, including eight years service with standard-bearers of Cuban music Irakere; collaborations with Juan de Marcos' Afro-Cuban All Stars and on the solo outings of many of the artists of the Buena Vista stable -- Omara Portuondo, Rubén González and Cachaíto López, to name a few; work abroad with jazz musicians Roy Hargrove and Steve Coleman and of course a childhood of apprenticeship in his hometown of San Juan y Martínez.

In this interview for Fly, he told me about his influences, his background, the making of Echu Mingua and his plans for the future.

Back to those collaborations with the Praetorian Guard of the Cuban scene, and what they tell us about Díaz as an artist. Where Portuondo and González, for example, celebrated the richness of the Cuban tradition in an essentially nostalgic vein, Díaz takes his cue firmly from Cachaíto's more forward-looking, jazz-oriented take on it. Not that he has any qualms at all about the Buena Vista Social Club project. "Buena Vista is the greatest thing that ever happened to Cuban music," he told me, "to promote it and give it its own place worldwide."

The early years still have a precious place in Díaz' heart. "Playing with Opus 13 and Irakere are maybe the most important things that happened to me," Díaz confirmed: "this was the beginning of everything, but every artist must find his own way. Nevertheless, camaraderie is very important to me, this is one of the reasons to still cooperate with Omar Sosa -- the pianist with whom Díaz is currently touring Europe -- to share these very special moments."

Music is the world's only common language, don't you think it is a wonderful way to improve the difficulties and understanding between all of us?

But it's Díaz' relationship with jazz that seems to be the essential touch paper to his creativity. He's said that Echu Mingua was made "without fear or thought," something he confirmed when pressed on the question of the album's conception -- "creating is something that doesn't always happen at an exact moment," he told me, but "if I should mention a special moment when I felt that 'It must happen' I would say after my cooperation with Steve Coleman." Coleman was a founder of the M-BASE Collective in Chicago, and his preoccupations -- the search a grand synthesis of funk, soul, jazz and African music -- echo Díaz' own. Díaz describes 'A Love Supreme' as the track which sums up the entire album, and sees it as an extension of John Coltrane's own work and in particular an unfinished project to work with African music.

The African side of the Afro-Cuban equation is expressed in Echu Mingua through the participation of Malian n'goni player and griot Baba Sissoko, but also through the prevalence of Yoruba chant and invocations. Díaz has described Echu Mingua as a party, but also a religious service. When I suggested a lot of people outside Cuba would find that combination quite surprising, Díaz replied: "music is always something spiritual and shows your roots, but also the Yoruba religion manifestations are much more explosive than others, it's more like a party. All the tributes to the saints have their own drum 'toque', drums are always there."

When asked about the duality between the rootedness of his music and its international, cross-genre scope, Barcelona-based Díaz was typically uncomplicated: "of course," he told me, "although 100% Cuban I feel I'm a part of the world." As for music's power to unite a fractious humanity: "Music is the world's only common language, don't you think it is a wonderful way to improve the difficulties and understanding between all of us?"

After making an album which contains "everything which I have in my head and which I've been planning all my life," where can Díaz go next? "Creation is not a question of a moment but the consequence of many moments, the next step is already in me." Wherever Díaz is headed, there is one musician who will almost certainly accompany him: "there is a very special relationship between [Cachaíto López and myself], personally and professionally. We have a great mind connection. We enjoy doing music together, we can't lose this."

If like me, you're reluctant to wait for the next recording, you'll be pleased to hear that Díaz is also planning a tour, slated to include a "performance" from Cuban artist (and album art contributor for Echu Mingua) Manuel Mendive, broadening the palette still further. Let's hope they make it to London.

Echu Mingua will be released on World Circuit, 21 March 2005

--Image by Christina Jaspars--

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Anga Diaz is playing Wychwood Festival this June in England