Daymé Arocena

Daymé Arocena (born January 1992) is an Afro-Cuban jazz singer from Havana, She won the 2015 Juno Award for the best jazz album, as a member of the jazz band Maqueque performing with Canadian musician Jane Bunnett. For 2026 Grammy Awards, she received a nomination for the album The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in the Best Latin Jazz Album category.

Arocena is on National Public Radio's (NPR) list of 50 favourite albums of 2015, with the album Nueva Era. Describing Arocena's voice, NPR host Felix Contreras called her "a cross between Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin," saying that Arocena's name "deserve to be alongside those two legendary voices."

Afro-Diasporic connections Arocena is devoted to the religion of Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion, in which she has been a santera for over a decade. Through her work she embraces her religious identity like that of her music, album structures, cover art, and personal looks. She also incorporates the Yoruba language, traditional Santería prayers, and references to Orishas into her lyrics, as an aim to portray the faith in a deeper and empowering manner. She incorporates elements of jazz, pop, R&B, neo-soul, salsa, and cha-cha-chá, alongside the classical music influence she gets from her Russian-style music education that she received in Cuba. Her songwriting touches upon the themes of motherhood, men, heat, and body confidence.

Discography Studio Albums Nueva Era (2015) One Takes (2016) Cubafonía (2017) Sonocardiogram (2019) Alkemi (2024)