Ana Carla Maza

The cello is not usually associated with Latin American music and its genres such as salsa, son, bossa nova and cumbia. But Ana Carla Maza, the child of a family of Cuban and Chilean musicians, can only laugh at this idea. The songs she writes translate her colourful life into pulsating music. She doesn’t just make her cello groove to the rhythm, she also sings. As a five-year-old in her native city of Havana, she had piano lessons with Miriam Valdés, sister of the legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. At the age of eight, Maza fell in love with the cello, moved to Spain with her family and a few years later went to study music in Paris. On her current album Caribe, Maza unites all these influences: she celebrates her Caribbean home, takes some musical detours to South America and mixes in a touch of French chanson – this is the sound of pure joie de vivre!