The women-led Toronto band OKAN seamlessly blend their Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk, and international flavours.

Their music evokes a great deal of passion, so it's rather fitting that their namesake stems from the word for heart in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria.

I talked to band leaders and real-life couple Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne about their upcoming sophomore album Espiral, the political turmoil in Cuba, and the trick to keeping their romantic and professional relationships separate.