OMAR SOSA

Cuban pianist and composer Omar Sosa is one of the most innovative and genre-defying artists on today’s global jazz scene. His music freely blends Afro-Cuban traditions, global rhythms, modern jazz harmonies, and electronic textures. This explosive combination shapes a world that is at once ancestral, urban, and deeply spiritual. That distinctive universe has earned him six GRAMMY Award nominations.

A cosmopolitan and liberated sound.

Omar Sosa crafts a cosmopolitan and boundary-free sound where Afro-Cuban expressivity meets jazz, African, electronic, and spiritual influences. His virtuosic approach is rich with sonic exploration, effects, and layered textures. He follows in the path of artists like Monk, Coltrane, and Jarrett—yet breaks away from them with radical freedom. Albums like Afreecanos, Calma, and Eggun embody this aesthetic. Afreecanos, recorded live in Hamburg, dives into the African roots of diaspora traditions, blending urban grooves, ancestral percussion, and jazz harmonies. Eggun, inspired by Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, builds a fusion between modal jazz, African polyrhythms, and electronic sound design. Through these works, Omar Sosa defines a music of openness and vision.

A visionary, international journey.

Born in 1965 in Camagüey, Cuba, Omar Sosa was trained at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Havana. In the 1980s, he toured Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. During the following decade, he immersed himself in Afro-Ecuadorian cultures before settling in San Francisco. It was there that his truly international and visionary trajectory took shape. Today, Omar Sosa collaborates with artists from Cuba, Brazil, France, Mozambique, Benin, the U.S., and across North, West, and East Africa. His music bears the imprint of these encounters, offering a borderless vision of the world.

Critical acclaim and major awards.

Since 1997, Omar Sosa has released more than 18 albums on California-based label Otá Records, building an expansive and eclectic body of work. His career has been marked by major international distinctions. He has received six GRAMMY nominations and two BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards nominations. In 2003, he won Best Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album for Sentir—a powerful work that fuses spirituality and exploration. The following year, his album Mulatos was nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association in New York for the Latin Jazz Awards. The album blends Cuban jazz, Latin grooves, French chanson, North African trance, and European folk. In 2011, his collaboration Ceremony with the NDR Bigband earned him an ECHO Jazz Award in Germany. That same year, his contribution to Latin jazz was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Omar Sosa has earned unanimous international acclaim—from critics, peers, and audiences alike.

Projects in motion: Sahravane, Quarteto Afrocubano, Vibe Factor & Paolo Fresu Duo.

Restless and ever-creative, Omar Sosa leads several projects that reflect his passion for cultural fusion and his electrifying stage presence. Four ensembles currently showcase his vibrant artistic energy.

With Souad Asla and the women’s collective Lemma from the Algerian Sahara, he co-leads SAHRAVANE. This unprecedented ensemble pays tribute to Saharan cultures while weaving in Afro-Cuban traditions. A vibrant dialogue between deserts and rhythms.

Simultaneously, Omar Sosa returns to the roots of his sound with his Quarteto Afrocubano. This group delivers a powerful blend of clave, modal jazz, free improvisation, and Afro-descendant textures. A collective space where Cuban tradition becomes the engine of a visionary and grounded jazz.

Vibe Factor takes him into more electric terrain. This trio, with drummer-percussionist Diego Piñera and trumpeter Joo Kraus, breaks formats and improvises by instinct. It creates a mischievous, festive, and kinetic jazz. Analog synths, hybrid drums, Uruguayan percussion, and processed trumpet come together in a groove-driven, modern jazz set.

Finally, the duo with Paolo Fresu occupies a special place. Since meeting in 2006, the Cuban pianist and Italian trumpeter have developed a unique dialogue, nourished by Mediterranean lyricism, Afro-Cuban traditions and electronic textures. Three albums mark this collaboration (Alma, Eros, Food), each enriched by encounters with artists from all walks of life. On stage, their music takes the form of an intimate conversation where improvisation, loops and timbres open up a unique listening space.

Through these projects, Omar Sosa confirms his singular position as a builder of bridges between continents, generations, and sounds.