Described as the world’s next jazz phenomenon by Vibe, Daymé Arocena, still in her twenties, is already mentioned alongside musical greats like Aretha Franklin, Celia Cruz, and Nina Simone. She made her stateside debut as a singer and bandleader in 2016, following her first album, Nueva Era. Now she returns on the heels of the release of her second, Cubafonia, which NPR hailed as “a major statement on the progress of Daymé Arocena as an artist for the ages.” The Afro-Cuban musician’s work illuminates the expansiveness of Cuban identity as she draws from influences as wide-ranging as New Orleans jazz fusion to Yoruba santería ceremonies. It’s a testament to her Havana upbringing, where she grew up in a house where, as she once put it, “every available surface was scuffed from the rumba rhythms which had been played out on them.”
