OKAN celebrates ESPIRAL CD and video release!

Toronto-based, JUNO-nominated Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble OKAN delivers their sophomore album, Espiral, today on the Lulaworld Records label.

Led by violinist, Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist, Magdelys Savigne, OKAN fuses their Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk and global rhythms. Listen to Espiral here and join us for a live stream concert at 8pm on Friday October 16th, presented by Lula Music and Arts Centre and filmed at Lula Lounge.

In support of the album, the duo also share their first-ever music video for the record’s title track. A collaboration between OKAN and creative director and producer, Kathleen Ryan, the visuals for Espiral capture the elation of rebirth through its infectious, vibrant joyfulness, set amidst the lavish blues and verdant greens of Prince Edward County, that evoke a tropical background fitting to the music. (See the video link above or visit okanmusica.com.) Exploring the dualities of the contemporary and traditional, city and country, secular and sacred, exile and rebirth, Espiral is a rousing example of how OKAN bring their cross-cultural influences together, in a reeling interplay of Rodriguez’s violin, Savigne’s guajira rhythms and the Santería-derived chants that thread the track together.

CBC Music calls the album "astonishing,...lush and vibrant, urgent but specific and deeply intentional."

Espiral features Miguel de Armas, Roberto Riveron, Frank Martinez and Pablosky Rosales, with artwork by Jose Ortega and photography by Ksenija Hotic.