CD Review: Cubafonía by Dayme Arocena (Brownswood Recordings 2017)
Review:  Bill Tilford (all rights reserved)

This is Daymé Arocena's third album (and  fourth recording in her own name if one includes the 2015 Havana Cultura Sessions EP); she can also be found in Jane Bunnett's Maqueque project.   Her earlier albums are impressive,  but it is this album, Cubafonía, where she finds the magical chemistry between Cuban music, Funk, Soul and Jazz that makes the recording truly jump out at you as an album.  She is  accompanied by many of the best of the younger generation of Cuba's Jazz artists (drummer Ruly Herrera, just for one example, was just awarded a Premio Cubadisco for his own group, Real Project).
Musically, this is a tasty mix of Rumba (Eleggua, La Rumba Me Llamo Yo),   6/8 Afro (Maybe Tomorrow), Cuban dance music (Negra Caridad, in which her style has inspired comparisons to Celia Cruz by some other writers;  Mambo Na Ma, which incorporates elements of Soul and ends with a passage evocative of a street party in New Orleans), Ballad  (Como, Todo Por Amor, Angel ), a nice Cuban Funk number (It's Not Gonna Be Forever), and Changüi Jazz (Valentine).  
Maybe Tomorrow  and It's Not Gonna Be Forever are sung in English. .Como is a mix of English and Spanish lyrics. 

Here is the official video version of La Rumba Me Llamo Yo:

Tracks:

1. Eleggua
2. La Rumba Me Llamo Yo
3. Lo Que Fue
4.  Maybe Tomorrow
5.  Negra Caridad
6. Mambo Na' Ma' 
7.  Como
8.  Todo Por Amor
9.   Angel
10. It's Not Gonna Be Forever
11. Valentine

Technical and Musical Credits for Cubafónia