Second chance for Africa's Buena Vista Social Club

Eliades Ochoa says he can hear the Cuban influence in lots of African music

When newly independent Mali became a socialist state in the 1960s, Cuban music was actively promoted in Mali.

"We were very good friends with Fidel Castro," says Tounkara.

"Cuban music was on LP records, you took your guitar and you learned it. There are bits where you feel that it's come from Africa, it's almost the same rhythms."

In fact, you can hear the Cuban influence in much African music - from Congo to Senegal.

While the Malian musicians were well schooled in Cuban sounds, Cuban guitar player Eliades Ochoa admits his knowledge of Malian music is a little shakier.

"I can't tell whether the music is from Mali or from some other part of Africa, but I love African music," he says.

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A lot of the Cuban songs are humorous double entendre songs, which was slightly lost on the Malians”

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Nick Gold
Producer of AfroCubism

"In any African music we feel something, there is an atmosphere which makes us think about Cuban music."

Another Buena Vista?

One stumbling block in the studio was language. The Malians speak French and English, the Cubans Spanish.

Another player on the album was Toumani Diabate, the virtuoso master of the kora, a West African harp. He explains how they found common ground.

"The note F on the guitar is the same F on the kora, same on the ngoni, same on the balafon [xylophone]," he says.

"And it's the same in London, same in Bamako, same in Cuba. So the music has created its own language, it doesn't have any borders."

The lyrical gap was harder to bridge.

"A lot of the Cuban songs are humorous double entendre songs, which was slightly lost on the Malians," says Gold.

"And the Malian songs are all much deeper songs about fate and going very in-depth into their legends, so there were raised eyebrows at each others' songs."

The sessions have now been released as an album under the name AfroCubism, and a world tour is underway.

So can they hope to replicate the success of Buena Vista Social Club?

That was the result of a perfect storm: The story of the veteran musicians caught the world's attention, aided by the documentary film by Wim Wenders.

The album was also released when music downloading was in its infancy, and CD sales were at their peak.

But Tounkara is undeterred.

Talking about whether the original success can be repeated, there is a twinkle in his eye and he laughs a long, warm laugh.

"This project is really good, and I want this one to sell more than the first one."