Descarga Oriental, The New York Sessions acts as the thread that ties Cuba and Algeria together.  Algerian Jew pianist Maurice El Mèdioni and Cuban-born percussionist Roberto Rodriguez both find their ancestral and musical roots in Andalusia, Spain.  While the Spanish-North Africa and the Spanish-Cuba connections have surfaced in numerous world music recordings, it is a pleasure to hear French lyrics sung over Cuban dance rhythms and to hear musicians celebrating their common roots.  In the press notes, Roberto Rodriguez speaks of this connection, "Here we were, an Algerian Jew from Oran via Paris to Marseilles and a Cuban from El Vedado, Havana, via Miami Beach to Manhattan's East Village."

While a history lesson would be ideal here, I think those listening to this CD will just want to enjoy the lush rhythms played on Rodriguez' percussion and El Mèdioni's piano, along with sparkling horns.  And you will notice that Rodriguez' percussion takes on a North African and Andalusian tinge and El Mèdioni's piano wouldn't be out of place on a Cuban son recording.  The best description I can come up with is a little bit of Les Yeux Noirs tossed in with the Spanish-French-Algerian group, Barrio Chino and the Cuban super group, Buena Vista Social Club.  El Mèdioni handled composition duties and Rodriguez arranged and produced the songs.  The collaboration appears successful with all the various rhythmic elements and instrumental arrangements falling into place.

Take a listen to the long and lush opening track, Oran Oran which touts Jewish, French, Algerian, Spanish and Cuban influences.  The song sports a seamless DNA in the same way that children of parents of different races might.  You can hear all the influences mingling together and creating a new breed of music.  You will hear this again on the closing track, C'etait il y a longtemps.  A certain beauty does derive from multicultural projects when commonalties are presented, but we also must remember in looking back at historic events, we can also see how much healing must take place.  We can build bridges musically from the past to the present.  We also must construct new roads into the future, that honor not only what we have in common, but also our differences.  For it is the differences that caused all the problems in the first place.  Rodriguez and El Mèdioni have their hearts in the right place in creating upbeat music that takes us forwards and backwards.  This album is packed with "ah ha" moments.