Pianist, singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Roberto Fonseca was born into a family of Cuban artists in 1975. He made his live solo debut at the age of 15 at the Havana Jazz Festival, of which he would later become the artistic director, succeeding music legend Chucho Valdés. He obtained his master’s degree in composition from Havana’s renowned Instituto Superior de Arte. After touring Italy, he recorded his first solo album »Tiene que ver«, before becoming the youngest member of the Buena Vista Social Club, a career move that propelled him onto the global stage and brought him together with legends such as Ibrahim Ferrer and the evergreen diva Omara Portuondo. Retracing Roberto Fonseca’s life story in order to understand his artistic journey is just as difficult as attempting to analyse his music to explain his brilliant improvisations. Each of his projects is unique, as evidenced by his various collaborations, such as with popular British DJ Gilles Peterson for instance, with whom he produced an album that blends reggaeton, hip-hop and Afro-jazz, or with American DJ and producer Joe Claussell live at La Cigale in Paris. In Africa, he worked with Baba Sissoko and, notably, with Fatoumata Diawara – a formative encounter at the Marciac Jazz Festival, immortalised on the album »At Home« in 2015. Other projects include »No Limit«, an Afro-Cuban jazz album recorded in Japan, and its follow-up »Elengó«, which combines Afro-Cuban rhythms with hip-hop and drum’n’bass. The high-octane album »Yo«, which brought together 15 musicians from Cuba, Africa and the US, was nominated for a Grammy in 2012. Its successor »7 Rayos« released that same year, wonderfully blends Cuban sounds, classical music, West-African instruments, electronic music and spoken word poetry. The retrospective album »ABUC« found the crossroads between the past and the future, diving once again into Cuban music’s heritage in a bold way with contemporary flair. In 2019, he collaborated with Ibrahim Maalouf and Cuban rap’s rising star Danay Suárez on the album »Yesun«.

At the pinnacle of his career, Roberto Fonseca now presents »La Gran Diversión«, a tribute to the golden age of Cuban music, wild nights in La Havana and to Cabane Cubaine, Paris’ most famous cabaret of the 1930s. The project is a truly unique experience, poured into an album enhanced by the accompanying live performance where Fonseca’s audacity is combined with an orchestra on par with the Buena Vista’s.

»Together we will laugh, cry, enjoy the mystery and magic of rhythms and melodies stemming from my roots«, Fonseca predicts, and whether you are familiar or not with the moves and steps of the Mambo, Rumba or Bolero, the urge to sway to the melodies played by an artist who breathed new life into Cuban music, will be irresistible.