ARTIST
Dafnis Prieto
featuring Luciana Souza

TITLE
Cantar

RELEASE DATE
September 16, 2022

TYPE
Album

ROLE
Producer

LABEL
Dafnison Music

TRACK LIST

Music & Lyrics by Dafnis Prieto (Dafnison Music/BMI), except:

Houve Um Tempo: Music by Dafnis Prieto, Lyrics by Luciana Souza (Answer Music/BMI)
Amanhecer Contigo: Translation to Portuguese by Luciana Souza
The Muse: Music by Dafnis Prieto, Lyrics by Luciana Souza & Dafnis Prieto

10. Guajira en Lu

PRESS

Named one of Felix Contreras of NPR Music's Top 10 Albums of 2022

"[Prieto's music is] a marvel of acrobatic musicianship, with Souza’s voice hopping and gliding across tricky but joyful melodies, a glorious match of percussive angularity and tuneful allure"
— The New York Times

"breaking new ground"
— NPR All Things Considered

"So ably expressed in the vocals of Luciana Souza, it is Prieto as a composer and lyricist who creates the musical foundation for something transformative.... It is not often that these two worlds [the 'melodic' and the 'poetic'] come together seamlessly. With Cantar, we experience the beauty of 'cheerfulness, intimacy, and imagination.' But at the center is also a subtle experiment with form."
— DownBeat

"With its emphasis on composition, supported by the inspiring Souza and a creative cast of characters, Cantar shows Prieto as one of the most multidimensional artists working today"
— JazzTimes

"Make no mistake... [Prieto's] music comes with original [lyrics] that meet the highest standards of poetic content in song"
— Latin Jazz Network

"Prieto — with Souza’s magical interpretations of his work — has managed to craft an album of immense, songful, and poetic beauty"
— Latin Jazz Network

"As a player and writer, [Prieto] is a master of layered and interlocking rhythms that, no matter the complexity, always hew to a groove you can feel in your body. What's more, those grooves deliver melodies that stick in the ear."
— Jazziz

"a well-crafted global winner"
— Jazzwise (UK) ★★★★ Review

"Prieto... isn’t content to find a comfort zone and stay there throughout his career. He... welcomes variety and Souza helps him achieve it on Cantar."
— The New York City Jazz Record

"Prieto seems to know no bounds for his creativity. His lyrics sound highly personal and distinctive, and the addition of a poetic component to his already considerable talents bodes well for his future projects"
— SoundStage! Xperience

"a sparkling album.... already in my top 10 of 2022"
— Dan Ouellette

"Songs with lyrics are something new for Prieto, but you’d never know it from the songs he (and on several, Souza) wrote in three languages — English, Spanish, and Portuguese — making it a truly global affair.... [Prieto drives] the sound with his patented percussion. Ms. Souza is once again at the top of her game, her voice more than merely a device for the lyrics, but a true instrument in itself."
— Jeffrey Siegel, Straight No Chaser

"As charming as it is kinetic"
— Mel Minter, Musically Speaking

"[Prieto] plays with an unbelievable joy and spirit"
— Café Latino, JAZZ.FM91

"This is Prieto's first incorporation of lyrics... into his regime and hopefully not his last!"
— O's Place Jazz Magazine

ABOUT

In this special collaboration poised to be a top release of 2022, GRAMMY-winning Cuban-born drummer, composer, bandleader, and 2011 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Dafnis Prieto unites with GRAMMY-winning Brazilian-born singer Luciana Souza for Cantar, an album featuring songs with music and lyrics by Prieto.

Since arriving in the U.S. from Cuba in 1999, Prieto has honed his forward-looking musical vision across a range of styles and formats. In the process, he has become equally known for his composing and arranging brilliance and his electrifying drumming, comfortable exploring a wide spectrum of musical vocabular­ies.

This album reveals a new side of Prieto — lyricist. He grew up with a great love of popular songs and melodies, influenced by Cuban boleros, Los Van Van, Elis Regina, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Queen, Stevie Wonder, and more. Prieto felt inspired to create a record that would engage listeners through both music and words. He invited Souza as his collaborator, an admirer of her talents as one of the world’s leading vocalists and interpreters (she ultimately contributed lyrics on several tracks as well). The album features songs in three languages — English, Spanish, and Portuguese — and aims to reach a global audience.

Prieto and Souza are joined by three masterful musicians and improvisers on the album, including Peter Apfelbaum (Woodwinds, Melodica, Percussion, and Keys), Martin Bejerano (Piano), and Matt Brewer (Acoustic and Electric Bass).

Recorded in September 2021, the project is co-produced by legendary GRAMMY-winning producer and Souza’s husband, Larry Klein (Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, Madeleine Peyroux, Walter Becker, Melody Gardot), and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning producer Eric Oberstein (Dafnis Prieto, Arturo O’Farrill), Prieto’s collaborator for the past half decade.

The project also features the work of an all-star team of engineers, including recording engineer Andy Taub (Brooklyn Recording Studio), mixing engineer Mike Marciano (Systems Two Recording Studio), and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman.

Cantar is Prieto’s ninth album as a leader, and his latest release on his Dafnison Music label, which he founded in 2008.

FROM DAFNIS

This is an album of songs carried by a combination of real and abstract memories, nuances and stories, displaying scenarios of cheerfulness, intimacy, and imagination. Cantar reveals the precious entangled connection of words and sounds, like words that come from far away, like melodies that come from the horizon to your ears, from deep within, from my heart to yours!

LINKS