Transparent Water is the new studio collaboration between 7-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist-composer-bandleader Omar Sosa and London-based Senegalese singer and kora master Seckou Keita. The project idea grew out of Sosa’s impromptu addition to a mid–2012 date with drummer Marque Gilmore at the CLF Art Café in London, in what was Sosa and Keita’s first musical encounter. Profoundly moved by the experience, Omar told Seckou he wanted to invite him to work together on a future recording project.

Cuban Pianist Omar Sosa and Senegalese kora player and vocalist Seckou Keita have assembled an extraordinary album seamlessly melding Latin American and West African music. Additional guest instrumentalists bring with them a host of other sounds predominantly emanating from the Far East. The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument whilst the sheng is a Chinese mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes. The bawu is a Chinese wind instrument and the geomungo is a traditional Korean type of zither. Notwithstanding that the kora is one of the main instruments on the album, it would have been useful to map every instrument played to their respective tracks, since presumably only listeners with expert knowledge would have been in a position to recognise all of them. But this is a very minor quibble and on an impressionistic level doesn’t in any way detract from the appreciation of the music.