" data-original-title="" title="">Santi Debriano's Arkestra Bembe is a nonet whose centerpiece is the bembe music of west Africa. During the Coronavirus pandemic, Debriano began hosting weekly bembes (musical celebrations) in the basement of his Staten Island, New York home, gradually assembling a group of musicians who would comprise the Arkestra and perform Debriano's compositions and arrangements.

The result is Ashanti, an impressive studio recording whose framework is jazz but whose heart and soul are clearly in bembe. Debriano has absorbed the celebratory nature of the music and written ten songs that give bright voice to dembe's rhythmic and harmonic temper. Debriano's teammates are with him all the way, unraveling the music's import as to the manor born. The bassist anchors an especially able rhythm section whose other members are pianist