Adrian Alvarado

Ashanti

By Santi Debriano

Label: Jojo Records
Released: 2023
Track listing: Angel Heart; Ashanti; Imaginary Guinea; Imagined Nation; Till Then; Spunky; Arkestra Boogaloo; Basilar; Mr. Monk; Portrait.

Santi Debriano & Arkestra Bembe: Ashanti

by Jack Bowers
January 18, 2023

Panama-born bassist 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. ...