With her sparkling mix of hip-hop, cumbia, dancehall and reggae, Cuban singer, flautist and percussionist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez, aka La Dame Blanche, delivers a powerful and compelling sound that evokes the spirits, literally. Before each performance, she systematically feeds the energy of the spirits of her Afro-Cuban religion Santeria with the smoke from a cigar, a glass of rum left backstage, necklaces, white flowers and a pristine turban.

As the daughter of Jesus “Aquaje” Ramos - trombonist and musical orchestra leader of Buena Vista Social Club - she grew up among the top of the Cuban music scene. Yet she chooses a different path: training as a classical flute player at the conservatory, making her debut in Cuban cabarets and ending up in Paris through love. There she immerses herself in the melting pot of rhythms and melodies and experiments in various musical projects, including with the female salsa band Rumbana and with Sergent Garcia. She soon emancipates from the family heritage and develops her own language as La Dame Blanche. “It is the result of my frustrations, of my unfulfilled adventures.”

Her hip-hop flow expresses anger, energy, a desire for revenge, a cry for help. She interweaves her characteristic flow with cheerful reggae, dancehall, cumbia and moombathon offshoots. The result is a sonic jungle, full of heavenly and surprising flute sounds with classical accents and sometimes Indian colors. We are looking forward to her fifth album, which will be released in early December, but as the British Sounds and Colors put it, “La Dame Blanche is best experienced live, wielding her flute like a weapon.”

© Denis Moraux