With her captivating charisma and radiant spirit, Daymé Arocena effortlessly blends traditional Santerían chant, jazz stylings, contemporary R&B influences, and Afro-Cuban rhythmic complexity for audiences worldwide. Her passion for the musical traditions of her homeland is boundless – “reigniting the Cuban soundtrack wherever she plays” (NPR). At every performance, Daymé coaxes her audiences into lively call-and-response chants with an irrepressible smile on her face, enamoring the whole audience in her charm. “Scat-singing over her trio’s swaying rhumbas and cha-cha-chas,” (DownBeat), Daymé’s impact upon the history of Cuban music is undeniable.
On September 6, 2019, Daymé released Sonocardiogram on Brownswood Recordings to resounding critical applause. Celebrating the rich elements of Afro-Cuban culture and Santería, Sonocardiogram also tells the story of Daymé as a creative spirit. The album is a finely crafted arc exploring her sources of Santería, dedication to legacy of Afro-Cuban musicians, an homage to family, and of course always inspired, sincere, and hopeful.
Daymé was introduced to the world stage through Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura Mix project, which brought producers from around the world to Cuba to record with local musicians. Daymé enchanted a packed audience at the London launch of that album, and since then has released four breathtaking albums as a bandleader, including 2017’s Cubafonía – named one of The Arts Desk’s best albums of 2017. NPR claims there’s “never a dull moment” on the recording, and Billboard sums it up perfectly: Cubafonía is a “must-have on any playlist.”
There are no tour dates listed for this artist.
Hi-RES IMAGES
^Photo Credit: Pablo Dewin
^ Photo Credit: Gabriel Guerra Bianchini
VIDEO
‘Sonocardiogram’ Teaser (Embed)
SFJAZZ Center Gala (Embed/Download)
Negra Caridad – Glastonbury Session (Embed)
NPR Tiny Desk Concert (Embed)
Daymé Arocena Trilogía Sonocardiograma (Embed)
Daymé Arocena Five ways to love Sonocardiogram (Embed)
Daymé Arocena A difuntos presentes Sonocardiograma (Embed)
BIOGRAPHY/PROGRAM NOTES
Biography: Download (doc)
Sonocardiogram Press Release: Download (doc)
Education: Download (pdf)
Official Website: daymearocena.com
Label: Brownswood Recordings
CURRENT RELEASE
Sonocardiogram (September 6, 2019 Brownswood Recordings)
PRESS REQUESTS
Penny Guyon
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Posted Feb 20th, 2018
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Posted Oct 24th, 2017
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From KUNM Interview With Daymé Arocena: The Voice Of A New Cuban Generation By: Cristina Baccin During an interview, host Cristina Baccin discusses with the young Cuban composer and singer, Daymé Arocena how a rich African legacy has given birth to the diversity and styles of music that are Cuban music as well as jazz. She titled her album using...
Posted Aug 8th, 2017
From Austin Woman A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO HAVANA, CUBA: Rising Cuban artist Dayme Arocena follows her rhythm in the city of eternal summer. By: Kelly DiNardo It’s not often a 24-year-old earns comparisons to musical legends Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Celia Cruz, but critics and fans are continuing to heap just such enthusiastic praise on Dayme Arocena. The Cuba-born...
Posted Jun 30th, 2017
From Global Grasshopper Cuba’s spectacular new voice ‘” Daymé Arocena By: Johanna Derry ‘I’m not the kind of beauty that some people want to see,’ Daymé Arocena states guilelessly. On the release of her latest recording Cubáfonia, the 24-year-old Cuban singer is striking, a figure dressed in her now trademark white, with a serenity and self-composure that belies the power...
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From PRI Cuba’s Daymé Arocena found her religion through music By: Maria Murriel Daymé Arocena strolls onstage barefoot, beaming as her band primes an audience in Boston for 90 minutes of Cuban jazz. Her head is wrapped in a white turban and she wears a white dress ‘” the color of Santería, the Afro-Cuban religion born out of European Catholicism...
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From Vibe Meet Daymé Arocena: Cuba’s Jazz Phenomenon Fusing Salsa, Hip-Hop And Neo-Soul By: Marjua Estevez Daymé Arocena is a singing drum. Her mouth blooms a litany of ethereal chants, a sacred devotion as impeccable as her white assembles against her molasses skin’“traditional garb in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. She moves in the world the way she moves on...
Posted Jun 19th, 2017
From Boston Globe Cuban Millennial Daymé Arocena Bend Musical Traditions By: Siddhartha Mitter Daymé Arocena, the 25-year-old singer, composer, and bandleader who is the newest international sensation in Cuba’s rich history of musical brilliance, always had a tendency to do things her own way. ‘Even when I was at the music conservatory, I used to take my piano tests with...
Posted Jun 14th, 2017
From WBUR (90.9): The ARTery Daymé Arocena Wants The World To Know That Cuban Music Is More Than ‘Cha-Cha-Chá’ By: Amelia Mason The Cuban singer and bandleader Daymé Arocena is best known for her massive voice, a throaty bellow that has invited comparisons to Aretha Franklin and Celia Cruz, the queen divas themselves. But Arocena’s latest release, “Cubafonía,” is as...
Posted Jun 12th, 2017
From JAZZIZ Daymé Arocena, ‘Cubafonía’ By: Lissettee Corsa Cuban soul singer Daymé Arcoena’s booming alto is boundless. From her days as a choir student and conductor at Havana’s prestigious Roldan Conservatory to collaborations with Canadian flutist/bandleader Jane Bunnet and British producer Gilles Peterson to the release in 2015 of her well received full-length debut, Nueva Era the Afro-Cuban singer has...
Posted Jun 8th, 2017
From Okay Africa Daymé Arocena’s ‘Eleggua’ Is A Beautiful Afro-Cuban Ode to Santería’s God of Crossroads By: KILLAKAM Daymé Arocena’s new album, Cubafonía, is a wonder of handcrafted Afro-Cuban music, bringing the rhythms of today’s Cuba’“not just the ’50s Cuban sound that you hear so often’“to the world. ‘Eleggua,’ one of the standout compositions from Daymé’s latest album, blends Afro-Cuban...
Posted Jun 1st, 2017
From Billboard Six New Albums (and One Reissue) of Ageless Cuban Music By: Judy Cantor Dayme Arocena, Cubafonia The infinite power of Afro-Cuban ritual drives the remarkable young Cuban singer Dayme Arocena’s latest, Cubafonia. On this luscious Gilles Peterson-produced recording, Arocena not only represents rumba, she carries on Cuba’s longstanding love affair with jazz and funk. To read more click...
Posted May 31st, 2017
Pitchfork Daymé Arocena, ‘Cubafonía’ By: Minna Zhao As an initiate of santería, the Havana-born jazz singer is in tune with her religious and musical practices, as Cubafonía illuminates, pulling from genres within and adjacent to Cuban popular music. To read more click here
Posted Mar 16th, 2017
From New York Times Daymé Arocena, ‘La Rumba Me Llama Yo’ By: Jon Pareles Towering ambitions in Latin jazz take euphoric form on ‘Cubafonía,’ the new album by the Cuban singer Daymé Arocena. Age-old Afro-Cuban rhythms, brassy big-band dance music, modern jazz harmonies and hints of funk all show up in her songs, and her voice ‘” low, rich, agile...
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Posted Jan 11th, 2017
From Brownswood Recordings DAYMÉ AROCENA // NEW ALBUM CUBAFONÃA ANNOUNCED With Cuba poised to become more connected to the rest of the world, the Cuban people’s pride in a unique musical heritage has never felt more vital. Arising from that lineage, Daymé Arocena has returned to deliver an ambitious second long player; rooting her compositions in Cuba’s classic rhythms, Daymé...
Posted Dec 13th, 2016
From Vibe Cuban Songstress Dayme Arocena Is The World’s Next Jazz Phenomenon By: Shanna Collins It’s not often that a 24-year-old garners international acclaim and musical comparisons to musical giants Nina Simone and Celia Cruz, but Cuban-born Dayme Arocena is no ordinary artist. Raised in Havana, she was hailed a musical prodigy, becoming a trained composer, arranger, choir director, and...
Posted Sep 29th, 2016
From Essence STREAM THIS! Five global music acts who have the world spinning By: Phlona Okumu Daymé Arocena Cuba You’ll love her if you like: Cesaria Evora and Ella Fitzgerald The lowdown: The renowned BBC radio global music tastemaker Gilles Peterson wasted no time in offering Arocena a deal with his Brownswood Recordings after seeing the then teenager perform in...
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From NPR/WXPN Latin Roots: New Cuban Music Reporter Catalina Maria Johnson of Chicago’s Beat Latino recently returned from Cuba very excited about some new music. She traveled all the way across the island, from Havana to Santiago de Cuba, for the Manana festival, which is dedicated to combining traditional music with electronics. Johnson brought back some great examples of that...
Posted Jul 1st, 2016
From Paper Mag Jazz Singer Daymé Arocena Is One of Cuba’s Newest Rising Stars By: Grettel Jiménez Singer Daymé Arocena is one of Cuban jazz’s newest and freshest voices. At only 24 years old, she’s already a singer of staggering range as well as a songwriter, composer, arranger and band leader whose music easily flows between Afro-Cuban ritual chants to...
Posted Jun 9th, 2016
From Billboard By Judy Cantor-Navas Havana’s Dayme Arocena Bridges Gap Between Cuban & American Music Daymé Arocena’s vocal repertoire encompasses scatting, Afro-Cuban chanting, scratchy-throated whispers, and a deep, gusty laugh. On her cover of the classic ‘Cry Me A River’ (not the Justin Timberlake track), the 22-year-old from Havana sings to a ritualistic rumba beat, her voice pouring liquid over...
Posted May 26th, 2016
From The New York Times By Jon Pareles Review: Daymé Arocena Mixes a Cosmopolitan Vibe With an Earthy Tone The Cuban singer and songwriter Daymé Arocena was dressed entirely in white, the color of santería ceremonies, when she performed at Subrosa on Tuesday night, and she started her late set with a song invoking Yemayá and Ochún, the saints of...
Posted May 26th, 2016
From rhythmpassport.com By Marco Canepari Interview: Daymé Arocena (April 2016) Usually it would be rude to reveal a woman’s age, but there are always exceptions. Especially when it comes to an impressive young musician, composer, arranger and choir director who, at the age of 24, has already released two albums, toured the world, signed for Gilles Peterson’s label Brownswood Recordings,...
Posted May 26th, 2016
From L.A. Times By August Brown Daymé Arocena brings exultant Afro-Cuban rumba to Eagle Rock When Daymé Arocena took the stage on Monday night for her Los Angeles debut, the 22-year-old looked resplendent in a white dress and matching headwrap. The backing band for the Havana singer and composer was already out in front of her at the Center for...
Posted May 26th, 2016
From NPR World Cafe Latin Roots: Dayme Arocena World Cafe’s latest Latin Roots artist, Cuban singer Daymé Arocena, has a warm, dynamic voice and a personality to match. The 23-year-old laughs easily in this session, as she sings songs from her debut album, Nueva Era, and discusses the opportunities available to her at home and around the world. BBC DJ...
Posted May 24th, 2016
Dayme Arocena Rider: Download (pdf)
One of the world’s fastest rising jazz vocalists.
The New Yorker
This Cuban soul singer is on fire right now, burning up the stages wherever she plays. With her strong and powerful voice, she’s reigniting the Cuban soundtrack.
NPR
Sonocardiogram, the latest album by Daymé Arocena, is a vibrant masterpiece.
Bandcamp Daily
The most breakout talent that we’ve seen out of Cuba in recent years.
Nate Chinen, NPR Music
The Havana-raised, conservatory-trained singer and composer melds jazz, contemporary R&B, and West African-derived Santerían chant to musically incarnate the breadth and depth of her Cuban heritage.
The Boston Globe
When she sang, she had a beaming, irrepressible smile, the expression of a virtuoso who knew she was pushing each song toward gleefully unexpected places
The New York Times
She whipped the audience into a call-and-response chant that proved her myriad talents are always in service of a communal experience
The Los Angeles Times
A magical mash-up of The Queen of Latin Music, Celia Cruz, and The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
NPR
While U.S. and Cuban politicians currently struggle to find common ground, Arocena’s big voice finds harmony in the two countries’ shared musical history
Billboard
An Afro-Cuban Ella Fitzgerald, scat-singing over her trio’s swaying rhumbas and cha-cha-chas, and radiating charisma
Downbeat
A rich and powerful new voice from Cuba
The Guardian
[The] young singer and composer yokes the folkloric melodies and rhythms of her native Cuba into a richly textured, contemporary context, adorning them with digital sounds and subtle funk grooves.
The New York Times