DIÁSPORA - United in the Latin Beat

“Clave... To us the word goes beyond explanations and definitions. It means life, salsa, the food of our leisure time, the motion of intense rhythm, the emotion of 20,000 people simultaneously grooving to the natural sounds of life. It’s being played in beat, on key, on clave... It means to be on top of things, to be playing it right... Clave is history, it’s culture. African drums from far off places like Nigeria, Dahomey, and Ghana married the Spanish guitar to bring us clave. The seeds were planted in the Caribbean and now their grandchild is Salsa...”

DIÁSPORA is a UK-based Latin band bringing you a one-way ticket to the music of the Americas. The 11-piece lineup (2 vocalists, 3 percussionists, 4 brass, piano and bass) lends itself to an expansive BIG BAND sound without losing the dynamism and spark of a small group, and combines sensuous vocals, sophisticated horn lines and explosive percussion solos... With their vision to unite the rhythms of the Americas, their music is uplifting, inspiring and unifying, celebrating the diversity of cultures that arose out of the African Slave Trade, whilst focusing on the Cuban, Brazilian and globalized SALSA sounds which have become significant musical languages and forms of solidarity and cultural exchange among communities throughout the world. DIÁSPORA is not your regular salsa band... it’s a LATIN band, in the wider sense; freely mixing salsa with jazz, funk and contemporary popular music styles to create an explosive mix of sounds... it’s a BIG BAND by its very nature; equipped with all of the credentials to make for an exhilarating live outfit - engaging vocalists, a burning hot rhythm section and a big fat brass section... With their critically acclaimed fusion of rhythms, DIÁSPORA is one of the most exciting new projects to emerge on the UK Latin scene today.

“DIÁSPORA... The word has a universal meaning in many languages - it is all about dispersed peoples coming together, and the amazing musical fusions that this has created. Our sound has the spirit of salsa, but the swing of samba, and we combine these rhythms with jazz, funk and infusions of contemporary popular music styles from around the world - it is a real melting pot...” Rory Duffy (saxophonist and director)

THE MUSIC

DIÁSPORA provides the ULTIMATE catalyst for an engaging live outfit, delicately poised between its infectious appeal among a wide range of audiences yet technically sophisticated sensibility. The original compositions combine influences as diverse as South American pop, Spanish rumba, nu-Bossa, funk and reggaeton with a lyrical interplay between love, musical intoxication and images from the natural world. The arrangements themselves are pretty simple, containing flexible open platforms that allow the band to really stretch out and explore their musical territory, punctuated with unifying sections that bring the band into triumphant moments of tightness and togetherness. DIÁSPORA has become a real VIBE band; analogous to a single, living breathing organism, yet free and open at the same time, lending itself to bursts of collective spontaneity - clapping in clave, improvised vocal refrains and onstage swaying. The combination of its expansive 11-piece lineup and its diverse influences from Latin American, mainstream popular and world rhythms render DIÁSPORA truly a musical carnival...

DIÁSPORA blends sophistication with FUN and works equally well as an amazing party band available for hire. Whether it is cheesy commercial Hollywood hits, sophisticated Latin jazz, straight-up contemporary salsa dance music or old-school Cuban classics, it is completely up to you! And of course like all great bands DIÁSPORA will judge what the audience respond to on the day and are prepared to change the set list ‘on the fly’...

THE MEMBERS

DIÁSPORA brings together a collective of musicians from all over the UK - including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bournemouth and Lancashire. Its members are all experienced musicians who have played with some of the UK’s top bands within the jazz and world music circuit. Many of them are distinguished music graduates from UK music colleges and universities and from institutions around the world. DIÁSPORA also brings in a variety of guest artists, further expanding their wide range of material.

WHAT CAN THEY BRING TO YOUR EVENT

DIÁSPORA offers an 11-piece band as its standard line-up, however, it breaks down into a range of basic packages – ‘Standard’ (10/11-piece), ‘Instrumental’ (9-piece), ‘Medium’ (7/8-piece) and ‘Small’ (5/6-piece) – each with their own line-up/instrumentation combinations. DIÁSPORA also offers a range of support acts including jazz/string quartet, guest vocalists, salsa dance tuition and DJ services. Both the basic packages and support acts can be combined and substituted with one another – providing you with even more choice and flexibility.