Omara Portuondo & Chucho Valdés

Omara & Chucho World Village****

There is a flavour in Latin- American music – a sentimental blend of tears and treacle – that has fallen out of fashion in the Anglophone world and can take some readjustment for jaded Western palates. With Omara and Chucho, it’s worth the effort. Two living legends of Cuban music – he the maestro of Afro-Cuban jazz, she the queen of the Buena Vista Social Club – deliver the sort of performance that, if you heard it in some atmospheric club in Havana, might restore your faith in romance. It takes a little more imagination, admittedly, to feel the love on the bus to Dún Laoghaire, but switch off your cynicism and Omara and Chucho reveals itself as pure torch-song bliss. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis plays gooseberry for one track, but really it’s the two stars who make this gem shine. See worldvillagemusic.com

Download track: Mis Sentimientos