Orquesta Akokan
16 Rayos
Following their critically acclaimed Daptone debut, Orquesta Akokán is ready to unleash '16 Rayos' on the world's dance floors. Recorded in Havana's famed Egrem Studios, the group displays a cohesion forged by an intense performing and touring cycle. The musical conversation that began in the Areito studios three years earlier blossomed into an easy, intimate dialogue between good friends - allowing full, fearless musical expression and risk-taking outside of their comfort zones. Building upon Perez Prado's dissonant, near avant-garde vision of the mambo, and highlighting the Lucumí subtext of Cuban rhythms and styles, the band continues to explore, develop and expand the island's rich rhythmic palette and repertoire - pushing the conventions of what is considered "mambo" - and drawing deeply from folkloric and religious traditions seldom heard in popular music. '16 Rayos' is here to shine its musical rays on us, warm our hearts, and irresistibly move our bodies.