Orishas are, primarily, a Paris based quartet. Three Cubanos and one Frenchman who deliver one of the headiest mixes of contemporary music to be found anywhere. Taking their name from that given to the Gods of Santeria Orishas's album is the meeting point, and melting pot, for Franco-Latino hip-hop, rap and salsa.
The band were formed when two of France's best known hip-hop producers, Don di Niko and Livan, linked up with Paris based Cuban musician Roldan and two rappers from the premier Cuban outfit Amenaza. After getting together to record some initial demos the band realised that they had something special, Rap Cubano.
The real skill in A Lo Cubano comes in the way that they have combined the disparate sounds of the separate cultures to create something which sounds completely natural and organic. On tracks like Represent and 1.9.9.9. they bring Cuban musicianship to the hip-hop format, while delivering their own personal manifestos. Represent tells the band's own history, talking of the tough lives the Cuban trio lived while growing up in the Cayo Hueso district of Havana and their eventual escape into the Orishas project..
Perhaps the best example, on the album, of the marriage of the two cultures can be heard on 537 C.U.B.A. where they take the traditional song Chan Chan and completely overhaul it. Originally performed by Company Segundo, who appeared in the Wim Wenders film Buena Vista Social Club, in the Son style Chan Chan is the chosen street anthem of Cuba. The Orishas version turns it into a ghetto anthem for the Cuban Diaspora, telling of the hardship of the expatriate experience.
Cuban music has gained huge acclaim worldwide thanks to the Ry Cooder project and Orishas should add to that standing. Coupled with the distinctive French hip-hop style, which has influenced US artists like the Wu Tang Clan, this music speaks of oppression and despair felt by those who have to live outside their homelands and have to suffer the daily burdens of intolerance and discrimination. It is a breathtakingly beautiful album and looks like being the soundtrack to the summer.
