Gilles Peterson Havana Club: Rumba Sessions Part 2

Remixes by Pablo Fierro & Pepe Braddock!

The latest chapter in the long standing relationship between Gilles Peterson and the music of Cuba sees him explore the roots of rumba through a project comprising three parts: a feature length documentary, a collection of remixes and a free sample pack. Produced in collaboration with rum maker Havana Club – creator of the Havana Cultura platform to promote contemporary Cuban culture – this is another episode in a six-year relationship that's already given vital exposure to different aspects of Cuba's thriving music culture through the Havana Cultura album series.

Peterson worked with the island's esteemed rumberos to record authoritative versions of the three rhythms as well as discuss what differing meanings and origins are attached to each. The recordings of rumba's three key styles were handed to a crop of producers working in the orbit of the most interesting corners of club music, allowing for an exciting, global re-interpretation of rumba's roots. The result is Havana Club Rumba Sessions: a collection of remixes that's as varied as you'd expect from a roster of producers spread across locales as wide as South London to Japan and beyond. The final mixes are by four of the producers involved in the 22a beatmaker collective, the first of which is by Reginald Omas Mamode IV who folds the Cuban rhythm into atypically disjointed construction; Tenderlonious spaces out gentle chords and a vocal from Daymé Arocena to keep things sparse.