VA - Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura Anthology (2016)

In 2008, DJ and globetrotter Gilles Peterson was approached by the melomaniac at the helm of Havana Cultura – an initiative to showcase and support Cuban creativity by Cuban rum maker Havana Club –, inviting him to Cuba to check out Havana’s underground music scene with a view to making an album. While some might associate Cuba simply with salsa or Buena Vista Social Club, there was a new generation of artists teeming with new sounds, waiting for an opportunity to reveal their talent to the world. That first trip was the beginning of what has now been an eight-year-long collaboration between Peterson, his Brownswood Recordings label and Havana Club’s cultural platform. It first resulted in the release of Havana Cultura: New Cuba Sound, an acclaimed double album that included original productions and a compilation of existing tracks across a range of genres reflecting contemporary Cuba’s musical diversity: jazz, hip hop, reggaeton and plenty in between. From there, the first edition of Havana Cultura Sessions, a solo release from Danay Suarez – a standout talent in the sessions for New Cuba Sound – came next, followed by Havana Cultura Remixed, joining the dots – with remixes from Louis Vega and 4 Hero – between Cuba and global club culture. After that, 2011’s Havana Cultura: The Search Continues was the next attempt to dig deep into the different corners of the island’s contemporary music scene. Joining Peterson on that trip was dubstep pioneer Mala, who took recordings and sessions with Cuban artists as the basis for Mala in Cuba, an album marrying together UK soundsystem culture with the deep rhythmic possibilities of Cuba.