The Whole Music Experience

 Let's go on a musical treasure hunt.  For this post we're heading to Spain to sample some flavorful music traditions. Grab your headphones and get on a board. Tucked in northwest Spain, the province Galicia hosts a variety of music traditions, including folkloric traditions that Galician musicians innovate then present to international audiences.  While I'm mostly familiar with the folkloric songs thanks generous Spanish labels that send this music to me, I also have Galician jazz ensemble recordings in my collection. The region hosts several music festivals each year featuring an array of genres of music, from opera and early music to pop rock, jazz and folkloric.  http://www.galiciatunes.com for details.  However, I'll focus on the folkloric and jazz recordings and artists for this post. The Celtic region of Spain along with Asturias, Galicia is situated between Portugal to the south, Asturias to the north, and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one s...

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 accor...

World   Ses Co Xenio Destrozado   (With a Broken Spirit) Folmusica Never judge a CD by its cover.   When I first laid eyes on the cover for Galician folk musician Ses (Maria Xose Silvar)’s sophomore album With a Broken Spirit , I thought I would be greeted by hard rock music.   Thankfully, the CD features delightful Spanish folk music and no hard rock. While Ses provides a few old-style rock and roll songs towards the end of the CD, clearly her forte is the folkloric material that resembles Mexican rancheras at times, regional Galician at other times, and she sneaked in a Cuban rumba, Canto aquí, canto na Habana , and a tango, Rebelarse ā conciencia (beautifully performed). Ses (a nickname given to her by her family) has a good ear for jaunty melodies and an expressive voice that wraps around strings on the tango, guitars, bass, percussion and folkloric instruments on other tracks.   A simple arrangement of acoustic guitar, voice and...

World/Galician   Radio Cos Radio Cos   Folmusica The American song collector Alan Lomax knew a good thing when he made field recordings of Galician music decades ago.  In some ways Galician folk music with its Celtic influences could be mistaken for Scottish or Irish music and in other ways, it sounds like Basque traditional music, some Portuguese traditions tossed in and the musicians sing in the exotic Spanish dialect, Gallego.  Radio Cos performs Galician dance music on Radio Cos punctuated by “aye, la, la” and on one of the tracks, I could have sworn I was listening to a Mexican ranchera (listeners also dodge animated bullets on that song). Romp-stomping accordion bounces along delicious polyrhythms played on the traditional frame drums and tambourines, maracas, violin, gaitas (bagpipes), saxophone and vocals.  The vocals supply us with harmonies and occasionally passionate outbursts.  On Pandeiretada (traditional drum) the music...

World Sērgio Tannus Son Brasilego Folmusica (Spain) When I received a parcel from the Galician label Folmusica, I wasn’t expecting a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist CD.   Yet, Sērgio Tannus Son Brasilego reminds me of the proximity between Galicia (Northwest Spain) to Portugal.   The Gallego language of the Galician people also shares roots with the Portuguese language so even though Brazil is across the world from Spain or Portugal, Brazilian music shares connections with Galicia.   Besides, some of Galicia’s hottest folk musicians teamed up with Tannus on this sunny recording.   And not only that, I was surprised to see two artists (Ceumar and Antonio Zambujo) whose CDs I reviewed in recent months, sing on the songs, Água Quentinha (Ceumar) and Bethoven Tinha Razão (Zambujo). No wonder their voices felt like a deja vu experience. I much prefer the slower, more sensual pieces, but the samba pieces have me wishing for time on a sunny So...

World Cantigas de Mulleres (Songs of Women) (Compilation of Galician Songs) Folmusica I’ve acquired a small collection of Galician recordings mostly featuring jazz and folkloric music.   The latest CD to come my way is a compilation, Cantigas De Mulleres featuring Galician women musicians such as bigger names Uxía, Cristina Pato, Gaudi Galego and Ugía Pedreira and upcoming talent such as 16-year old Sonia Lebedinsky whose mature vocals defies her youth and a musical elder Señora Carmen, age 86.   While the musicians focus on folkloric songs, the treatment of the songs range from medieval DOA’s Levousa Fremousa (which you can find a video on YouTube) to Celtic pipes (Susana Seivane’s Xoaniã ) to ultra-modern (Mercedes Peón’s Derorán ). Marful (Ugiá Pedreira) brings in a warm jazzy element mixed with folkloric elements on the song Tris Tras .   Whereas, SOAS (Cristina Pato and Rosa Cedrón) brings in Celtic piano, lush strings and aching vocals. ...

Rodrigo Romaní As Arpas de Breogán Folmusica Oddly, Galician harpist Rodrigo Romaní new album As Arpas de Breogán (The Breogán Harps) arrived in my mailbox right after I completed a section in my book Whole Music on harps.   I knew that harps played a role in traditional and most likely classical music of Galicia (Spain), but I believe this is the first harp recording I’m hearing from Northwest Spain.   While Galicia has Celtic influences, the bagpipes, frame drums, and other instruments differ from Celtic instruments of the British Isles.   Galicians also have their own styles of Celtic music with distinguishing features. The press notes tell the story of how the harp was introduced to Galician folk and popular music.   Rodrigo Romaní and lute-maker Ramon Casal introduced the harp to the University of Vigo in 1996.   Romaní who plays the roles of producer, composer, educator, conductor and broadcaster has built a solid reputation thro...

Os Cempés Tentemozo FolMusica Powered by drums and bagpipes--sounds like a marriage of Arabic modes and Celtic marches, Galician Os Cempés Tentemozo offers an uplifting listening experience.   If you are a regular visitor to Whole Music Experience, then you already know about Galician traditional music.   Similar to another Galician musician Uxia, Os Cempés creates a big sound on this recording with 50 traditional musicians bringing their talent to the project. Led by Oscar Fernández, hurdy-gurdies, violins, Galician bagpipes, tambourines, guitars, and the large Galician drum join forces and ignite into popular dances from this region of Spain.   This beautiful album was funded through the generous support of the band’s 740 friends and followers.   And you’ll want to thank these people after giving this CD a listen. The album opens with the rousing Mirandosa and then launches into Pasodoble De Illa which carries some musical reminders of Spai...

Pancho Alvarez Sonche Atlántico Folmusica My sister introduced me to Galicia, a Spanish province, over a decade ago when she loaned me her copy of Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage , but Angel Romero, Founder of World Music Central, introduced me to Galician music several years ago.   When many people think of Spanish music they think of flamenco or gypsy music.   I have not met many people outside of music journalism and world music audiences who even realize the diversity of musical traditions hailing from Spain’s provinces.   For instance, in Asturias and Galicia, bagpipes and large frame drums are prominent, but so are various types of lutes, accordions, strings, and instruments from other folkloric traditions.   The music ranges from jaunty sends-ups to haunting ballads.   At times, music of northwest Spain resembles other Celtic music of Scotland and Ireland. Multi-instrumentalist Pancho Alvarez features mostly original compositions on ...