The Cuban progressive five-piece Rock Band Anima Mundi will be appearing at the Voodoo Rooms on Wednesday 25th May.
The Band will begin the tour in their home town of Havana before heading east to Europe and then setting up in Edinburgh for the first of five UK dates supported by Beardfish’s Rikard Sjöblom. Sjöblom will be promoting his new solo album, The Unbendable Sleep, released next month on Gungfly Productions.
Anima Mundi is lyrical, solemn and dramatic, containing plentiful and constant melodies but also with slow changes of breathing and unexpected soundscapes. It’s not a secret that the enthusiastic band has walked step by step to successfully introducing itself among the varied and abundant present day progressive rock scene worldwide. In 2011 and 2012 the band toured in Europe with shows in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Anima Mundi’s first performance in The Netherlands in 2011 was hugely successful. “Some people already called it the best live performance of 2011. Well, maybe they’re right because they came and conquered the hearts of the people who stayed ’til two o’clock in the morning”. Henri Strik, Background Magazine.
Anima Mundi are a unique band in its homeland of Cuba, it is impossible to understand the evolution of the band without having an understanding of the Cuban situation. It is a known fact that the phenomenon of migration is suffered by nearly every family on the Island. Nine musicians from Anima Mundi have left and live in other countries, leaving holes in the line-up which are difficult to fill with talented performers. Also acquiring instruments and equipment isn’t straight forwards, with the lack of freedom of information. The indifference of the Cuban media to rock music, which has foreign influences, is thought of as having a lack of national identity.
The Band is being supported by Breadfish’s Rikard Sjöblom who is promoting his new album “The Unbendable Sleep”. Rikard says “the inspiration was actually because someone had posted one of my older songs (“Rumbling Boxes”) on facebook and it hit me that I really missed recording on my own. So I was inspired to write some new songs”. “I noticed that some of the songs work really well in an acoustic setting” and he continues to say that he will be touring in the spring, where he will mix music from his Beardfish and Gungfly Catalogues and his solo work.
Doors open 7pm. Tickets £18.50
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
