Bomba Cuba

Acclaimed Afro-Cuban percussionist and vocalist Giovanni Imparato reveals his stunning new album recording venture 'Bomba Cuba', Recorded in Havana @ Cuban national radio's Recording Studio. The prodigious performer gathered 12 of the greatest musicians on the local scene to take part in this remarkable live album project, combining his intense life story of Santeria, world travels, passion and obsession, with the traditional & popular rhythms of Havana. The result is an emotional, colourful, dance-inducing, surprising celebration of the Cuban culture, as seen through the eyes of a unique man, who voted his life to the drum.

Recorded at the historical Studio 4 of Radio Rebelde in Cuba (set up in 1958 by Ernesto Che Guevara) Bomba Cuba sees a wealth of vastly accomplished musicians coming together, including Ignacio "El Chispa" Cervantes (Bass), Luis Amaurys Leyva Suárez (Tres), Yanko Pizaco & Alexander Valdés Sarduy (Trumpet) and Claudio Passavanti (Piano) who also co-produced the album for the Sunlightsquare Records label.

Extraordinary percussionist and vocalist Giovanni Imparato has been a renown name of the global Afro-cuban music scene for more than 20 years. His eccentric figure and astounding performing talents have earned him the reputation as one of the best, most visionary and most entertaining percussionist of his generation. Italian born and Cuban by adoption, Giovanni spent his formative years in Naples studying percussion at his local conservatory. He was still an adolescent when he ventured out in the world, visiting New York, Brazil and Senegal where he would get into contact with African and folkloric music for the first time. Just then is life veered off to - obsessively and for the rest of his life - explore the dephts of Ritual Drums, Bata' Drums, ancestral languages, traditional dances, the cult of the Orishas and Yoruba. His spiritual and musical path lead him to Cuba by his early twenties and he has been part of the Santeria community ever since. Along with is his commanding ability to play the percussion, Giovanni is today considered to be one of the most expert cultural anthropologist of the Afro-Cuban movement.

He collaborated with artists of the caliber of Richie Havens, Paco De Lucia, Ray Charles, Chico Buarque, Isaac Delgado, as well as having lent his gift to Italian pop icons such as Mina, Andrea Bocelli, Eros Ramazzotti and Lucio Dalla, just to mention a few. Since 2006 he has been collaborating as a featured artist on the BBC acclaimed independent label Sunlightsquare Records, to release is unique and baffling work to audiences worldwide.