Global artist HAUSER releases his captivating new solo album THE PLAYER via Sony Music Masterworks, available here. In celebration of the release, HAUSER also shares the music video for his latest single “Waka Waka” here. On his new album, the critically acclaimed Croatian cellist brings his dazzling virtuosity to the world of Latin pop and jazz, unveiling new dimensions of the extraordinary musicality he originally displayed as a founding member of 2CELLOS (read our review here). HAUSER will reveal more exciting announcements tied to the album release in the coming weeks.
“Waka Waka,” the finale track to The Player, celebrates with a colourful, dance-filled music video. In a particularly brilliant twist, HAUSER blends the track’s triumphant brass, radiant strings, and wildly frenetic rhythms with the exultant harmonies of “Bongi Duma” (the same choir featured in Disney’s Lion King). HAUSER’s rendition turns up the heat on Shakira’s Afropop-inspired 2010 banger.
“With ‘Waka Waka’ I wanted to take cultures from all around the world and bring them together in one song,” says HAUSER. “There’s so many different influences happening, and the choir adds so much spirit—it was an incredible moment of love and unity and absolute joy.”
A bold departure from the quiet splendour of his 2020 solo debut Classic, a #1 hit on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Albums chart, THE PLAYER arrives as HAUSER’s most re-inventive body of work to date. “Because so much music is artificially made these days, I wanted to highlight real musicians while creating a unique sound that brings something new to each song,” says HAUSER. To that end, he shaped the album’s lush and brass-heavy arrangements with the help of producer Steven Mercurio (a conductor/composer who’s also worked with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Chick Corea, Andrea Bocelli and Sting), and enlisted the illustrious Czech National Symphony Orchestra for every track.
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