PREMIERE: Danny Ross Enlists Buena Vista Social Club Members In Cuban Take On 'Roses'

Melbourne indie-rock/roots troubadour Danny Ross has recently returned from a stint abroad in support of 2016 single Roses, during which he took some time out to head to Havana, Cuba's EGREM Studios at the behest of fellow Aussie muso Mista Savona.

Savona, who was in the country as part of his Havana Meets Kingston project, helped Ross form connections among the Cuban music community to bring together an impressive cast of local creatives — including members of the Buena Vista Social Club — to record a live version of his tune, newly dubbed Rosas for the occasion.

The Music is stoked to have a first look at the recording of the reimagined single, which came together in less than three hours and was produced by Savona, with mixing by the Grammy-nominated Carlos Castro (Michael Jackson, Selena Gomez).

Featuring a guest cast of musicians including Rolando Luna (piano), Barbarito Torres (laud), Oliver Valdes (drums), Yaroldy Abreu (percussion), Gaston Joya (bass) and Julito Padron (trumpet), the song takes on new life as a lush and airy ditty, driven by Ross' warm and endearing vocals and filled with layered nuances and flourishes sure to please even the most discerning of ears. At any rate, it ended up exactly how Ross was hoping.

"There’s a moment in the breakdown of Rosas — it encompasses everything I ever dreamed of in music," he effused in a statement. "The percussive swirls, the trumpet and the visceral, dynamic, pure euphony.

"I was given Sketches Of Spain by Miles Davis and Gil Evans when I was 16 — a rare live recording from Carnegie Hall in New York. That recording became a kind of muse for me and in the breakdown of Rosas in Cuba, I feel like those musicians, many of whom have played in Carnegie Hall, gave me that recording in some way. It’s what I’ve always wanted to experience in music, and they surrounded me with it.”

You can hear the original version of Roses — as well as recent single Inshallah Sofia, also recorded in Cuba — on Ross's Bandcamp page.

Mista Savona's Havana Meets Kingston album will be released in November through ABC Music.