Dear Friends,

My new single, "Landó para Maite", was written for my wife, Maite. She had been asking me for 10 years to write this piece. Finally, at the beginning of 2023, she gave me a look, pointed at her watch, and immediately I knew — no more procrastinating. Our partners sometimes push us towards becoming the best versions of ourselves — sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully! That initially painful push was the first step toward taking my own work seriously, and gave birth to my upcoming new album, Whispered Awakening, consisting entirely of my own compositions. So it is only apt that "Landó para Maite" is the first release. You can listen to it here:

Maite is from Lima, Peru, and I wanted to do an abstract musical painting of her, anchored by the ancestral voice of the cajón. When I finally asked myself "How am I going to do this?", I began to hear Caitro Soto's cajón intro on the celebrated Afro-Peruvian song "Toro Mata." Instantly I knew I had to compose the piece in the rhythm of landó — but I needed to fully understand the language before writing one of my own.

I was blessed to have a good friend in Lima, the late Victor Melendez, who taught me the subtleties of the language and rhythm of landó. I told him, "I can't play landó like a Peruvian, but I can play a landó like Tomas" — and that became this piece. I'm grateful to have completed this piece for Maite, and for the opportunity to share it with you all alongside my upcoming album Whispered Awakening.

Best,
Tomas