Paolo Fresu & Omar Sosa - Food

This new album, ‘FOOD’, completes a Trilogy of work by Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa, including the Duo’s previous releases, ALMA (2012), and EROS (2016). Featuring guest contributions from Washington, DC rapper Kokayi, Cristiano de André (son of the famous Fabrizio), cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, South African singer Indwe, and American pan drum master Andy Narrell, the album is a musical investigation of the theme Food from the perspectives of taste, aesthetics, and ethics. Over the course of a year, the sounds of restaurants and wineries were recorded, as were the voices of those who work in these food locales. We hear the mechanical clanking of presses, the delicate clinking of glasses, the sounds of oil frying, wine pouring, knives cutting vegetables, as well as the narrating voices of chefs and winemakers and patrons in Italian, Sardinian, Friulian, Spanish, French, English, and Japanese.

The songs on the album are the tales of recipes, culinary settings, and sociability. They are comprised of field recordings, duly edited, mixed, and looped that serve as a soundtrack upon which Paolo and Omar have composed a suite of original music, including an arrangement of the song ‘A Cimma’ by Fabrizio de André. The cover artwork is an image by fantasy researcher Diego Cusano. The face of the woman wearing a tomato spaghetti hat brings together the Italian and Cuban souls. ‘FOOD’ seeks to express the pleasure of taste, conviviality, discovery, and dialogue… but also the importance of healthy eating, and the need for awareness of the precarious situation of sustainable food production on the planet. The introductory text is by Carlo Petrin, founder of Slow Food Association.