The Whole Music Experience

Photo: Puerto Plata (Iaso Records) Puerto Plata Mujer de Cabaret Iaso Records I am mostly familiar with Cuban musical traditions, but the nearby island of Dominican Republic, (shares an island with Haiti), offers a similar fare of sones, boleros and merenues. Puerto Plata sings these traditions over luscious rhythms and the guitar work of Edilio Paredes and Frank Mendez, who both have these styles down pat. Mujer de Cabaret (cabaret women) , features 11 delectable songs, fleshed out with hard-driving guitar, Caribbean percussion, and 84-year old Puerto Plata serenading us (both women and men), with his "sweet nostalgic" vocals and guitar. And boy, is there a lot of guitar on this CD! Fans of the Buena Vista Social Club sound (mostly Cuban sones and troves), will enjoy this warm and sunny offering from a octogenarian musician, who has lived an eventful life judging from the press notes. Not only that he has kept his sense of humor intact over the years, having su...

Alex Alvear Equatorial Colorao Records For those listeners who enjoy South American Andes rhythms, flutes, and gentle flourishes, could do no better than Ecuadoran musician Alex Alvear's Equatorial . Alex reflects on a rediscovery of his native music on this disc. Like so many of us who discovered rock or jazz music in our formative years and thought that we could turn our backs on our musical lineage, Alex found that one can never run too far away from their roots. (Although he did find himself playing Cuban music for some time before returning to his Andes roots). And thankfully he returned full force to his musical heritage because his sweet musical offering brings smiles to listeners' faces--I am sure of it. "I must confess I never fostered traditional music as many of my fellow Ecuadorian musicians have been doing for decades, despite numerous challenges and lack of support. My knowledge of the music of my homeland has been purely empirical; a collage of inte...