London – Cuban cellist and composer Ana Carla Maza continues to shape a distinctive musical language where memory, movement and identity converge. Her work resists easy categorisation, drawing together jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms and global influences into a sound that is at once intimate and expansive.
Her latest release, the album Alamar, takes its name from both a place and a personal history. Born in the Havana neighbourhood of Alamar, Maza traces her roots through a story marked by exile—her family’s journey from Chile to Cuba—and the sense of belonging forged in that displacement. The album becomes a vessel for that inheritance, translating it into music that carries both personal and collective resonance.
“Alamar”: Music as Memory and Ritual
At the centre of the project is the instrumental piece “Alamar”, now accompanied by an official video directed by Azusa Maruyama. Filmed in Japan, the video places Maza in an elemental, open landscape, where wind, space and sound interact in a stripped-back yet deeply expressive setting.
Here, the cello is no longer just an instrument. It becomes voice, movement and ritual—an extension of the body and a medium through which history is carried forward. The composition itself blends the resonance of Afro-Cuban batá drums with the tonal depth of the cello, creating a dialogue between rhythm and melody, ancestry and presence.
As Maza describes it, Alamar is “hope… spirituality… freedom,” but also a narrative of exile and continuity. It evokes a place that welcomed over 180 children in exile, and the building where she herself was born. In this sense, the piece is both rooted and borderless, anchored in origin yet open to the world.
A Growing International Presence
With more than 400 performances across over 25 countries, Maza has steadily built an international audience. Her live shows are known for their physical intensity and emotional immediacy, translating the layered textures of her compositions into something direct and embodied.
This energy was evident in her recent headline performance at KOKO in London, where she presented her work to a UK audience. The performance forms part of a wider tour that continues to expand her presence across Europe.
UK Tour Continues
Following her London appearance, Maza returns to the UK to complete a series of live dates:
- 21 May – The Spiegeltent, Norfolk & Norwich Festival
- 26 May – La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
- 27 May – Foundry, Sheffield
- 28 May – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
These performances offer audiences the opportunity to experience her music as it is most fully realised—live, immediate, and in constant dialogue with the space around it.
An Expanding Artistic Language
Released digitally on 27 March, Alamar will receive a UK physical release on 22 May, making the project available in vinyl, CD and limited editions. As a body of work, it reflects Maza’s ongoing exploration of identity through sound—where geography, history and emotion are not fixed points but shifting currents.
In both recording and performance, Ana Carla Maza’s work continues to unfold as a form of storytelling without words, where the cello speaks not only of music, but of origin, exile and the enduring search for freedom. For more dates on European Tour visit: www.anacarlamaza.com/