In review--Folk Spain
World
The Ultimate Guide to Spanish Folk
Compilation
Arc Music
I have known for several years about the diverse folk music
traditions coming from the provinces of Spain.
From the haunting strains of Galician Celtic fare to the fiery strums of
Andalusian flamenco to early music traditions, and the music of the Jewish and
Moor populations, we could spend a lifetime discovering Spanish folk
traditions. While hardly an exhaustive
compilation, The Ultimate Guide to
Spanish Folk Music whets our appetites, though some of the tracks sound too
modern too my ears, while others such as Doa’s revisit to the early music song,
Levou-se a fremosa has me swooning a
bit from its enchanting vocals and hurdy-gurdy.
Compiled by radio hosts, Juan Antonio Vásquez and Araceli
Tzigane (for Mundofoniás--national radio of Spain), we hear music from Majorca,
Barcelona, the Canary Islands (which is new for me), Galicia, Extremadura, Asturias,
Valencia and accordion from Basque Country, just to give you an idea of their
musical travels. This compilation
shares commonalities with the Rough Guide music compilations with its wealth of
information presented in the liner notes and its combination of unknown
musicians (outside of Europe or Spain) and bigger names of world music such as,
Marina Rossell (Un Somni en dos actes),
and Kepa Junkera (La Tía Canaria) and
Eliseo Parra (La Llave de la alegría). Folk instruments play along side more modern
sounds on some tracks or a song could only feature two or three acoustic
instruments.
Galician Mercedes Peón opens the CD with the rollicking Isué--certainly a high energy song
featuring traditional tambourines, frame drums, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes,
accordion and a hearty choir. Typical of
Galicia, this song weds Middle Eastern modes with Celtic strains backed by
polyrhythms. In contrast, from Asturias,
Anabel Santiago’s Ven a veme only
provides rhythm on an acoustic guitar and light percussion that frame Santiago’s
elongated and soaring vocals. Manu
Sequera from Extremadura brings us the fun a cappella song, El gazpacho and you might just walk away
hungry after listening to a recipe for gazpacho (that is if you understand
Spanish).
On the track, La Tía
Canaria we are treated to the traditional accordion of Basque Country and
the lute, timple from the Canary Islands on this sweet instrumental piece. The compilation wouldn’t be complete without
one of my favorite Spanish vocalist, Marina Rossell who teams up with Catalan
string specialist, Eduard Iniesta on Un
somni en dos actes. And from
Valladolid, Eliseo Parra performs La
llave de la alegría on instruments from around the world and regional
Spain. This is another one of those
songs that sends me on a quest for regional music. While I cannot get to all the artists on the
compilation, I find the overall collection enjoyable and recommend it to world
travelers
Video for Doa
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