Special CD Book collectors Item with 64 page booklet
Includes unlimited streaming of SUBA
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 2 days
Purchasable with gift card
$19.99USDor more
about
gentle yet epic quality, yearning with quiet force, its strength in its circularity, spiralling upwards. Seckou wrote this song in a hotel room in Paris, before the beginning of Omar and Seckou’s tour in 2017. The lyrics revolve around a Manding proverb that says: The traveller who’s leaving knows he’s leaving, but he cannot know when or how he will return. The leaving feels like an act of freewill; the returning is decided by other things, yet unknown, beyond our control. ‘So in case you don’t see me again,’ Seckou sings, ‘know that it’s God’s will. And if you do see me, that’s God’s will too.’ “We’re talking about our connection with the supreme force. For Muslims, it can be Allah. For me, it can be Olofi,” Omar says, invoking the name of one of the three manifestations of the Supreme God in the Santería pantheon who rules over the earth. When Seckou and Omar played ‘Allah Léno’ together for the first time, back in 2017, they looked at each other: “Man! This is the first song we’re gonna record on our second album.” It became a tour favourite and a regular feature of the group’s encore. “If we didn’t play it, we didn’t feel good,” Seckou says.
lyrics
(Mandinka)
N’kon m’bitala tamo léla nata saréla eayéyé
I have decided to travel. I have come to say goodbye.
Kaa bitala tamo léla anata saréla eayéyé
He said he is going away, he just came to say goodbye to you.
Tala yala ta lélong tala mala naa long déh
The traveller who’s leaving knows he’s leaving, but he cannot know when or how he will return
Ea tata iman-na inata iman taa
You went, you never came back. You came back, you never went away.
Allah léno long dion n’na nonh n’tin Allah léno long dion n’na nonh n’tin
So in case you don’t see me again,know that it’s God’s will. And if you do see me, that’s God’s will too.
Allah léno long
God willing
Allah léno long dion n’na nonh n’tin Allah léno long dion n’na nonh n’tin
So in case you don’t see me again, know that it’s God’s will. And if you do see me, that’s God’s will too.
Allah lénooo
God willing
Ea-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyata-wo A-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyataa yéyéyé
Knowing that, you still took the freedom to spread tales of my return. But in the end, the choice to return is not ours. He took the freedom to spread tales of my return. But in the end the choice to return is not ours.
Ea-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyata-wo kouma koumo
You still took the freedom to spread tales of my return. But in the end, the choice to return is not ours.
La lalala aa lalala La allahla la allahla La allahla la allahla
Ea-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyata-wo
You still took the freedom to spread tales of my return
But in the end, the choice to return is not ours.
La allahla A-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyataa yéyéyé
He took the freedom to spread tales of my return
But in the end the choice to return is not ours.
la allahla Ea-tawta yadi dola koumo lé koliyata-wo koumo wolém
You still took the freedom to spread tales of my return.
But in the end, the choice to return is not ours. That’s the way it is
La allahla la allahla La allahlaa
credits
from SUBA,
released October 22, 2021
Omar Sosa - piano, percussion, backing vocals
Composer, pianist, and bandleader Omar Sosa’s musical trajectory traces the Diaspora from Africa to Cuba and Brazil; from
Central America to Ecuador’s African-descent communities; from San Francisco and New York to his current home base in Barcelona. True to his Afro-Cuban origins, Sosa fashions a spirited vision of uncompromising artistic generosity that embraces humanity at large....more
Dearest Arooj, firstly thank you. My brother died this year n what can be said about such loss n sadness. I saw n heard you at The end of the Road in England. I spent many years in India n love all the music, poetry of your heritage. Thankyou Arooj❤️ ben1769
A jazzy tribute to glittering Havana in the 1950s on limited edition double 12" vinyl in beautiful gatefold packaging. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 27, 2016
Fantastic Latin jazz from this San Francisco musician with percolating percussion, hopscotching piano, and darting horns. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 4, 2020
