The Whole Music Experience

Liliana Barrios Èpica (El Viaje de Homero y Virgilio Expòsito) World Village Sierra Maestra Sonando Ya World Village My mother claims that she played all types of music to my siblings and me when we were babies. She mentions that she even played “highbrow music” and most likely she was referring to European classical, but she might have meant Argentine tangos and Cuban son, after all, my mother grew up in Panama and her first language is Spanish. However, my first language is not Spanish and it certainly isn’t the language of tango or son, but this music is probably floating in my DNA somewhere among those Spanish peasant genes. Certainly when I hear a bandoneon conversing with weeping strings passion and pathos bubble over in my bloodstream; my heartbeat quickens. It’s not fair to Argentine tango musicians, but when someone mentions tango my mind automatically thinks of Astor Piazzolla. Tango has its lineage of vocalists, bandoneon players and composers. Some ...

Storks, Poetry and the Human Spirit   Around 2005-06, I heard vocalist and cuatro player Marta Topferova giving a radio interview in Seattle. After the interview, I acquired her recording, La Marea and I fell in love with its blend of old style Latin American music with a modern sensibility. That following Valentine’s Day I saw Marta with her trio at Jazz Alley (Seattle), and I felt swept away by the South American cuatro and Marta’s alto vocals. And I wasn’t the only one—many audience members stayed after the concert to meet the performers. Later with the release of her second recording on World Village, Flor Nocturna , again Marta supplied her listeners with a collection of thoughtful songs performed in a “chamber ensemble” format. Some of the material felt melancholy, but so were the times in which I found myself listening to the recording. Now, Marta awaits the release of her third World Village recording, Trova (see review below), which celebrates music of the C...

Marta Topferova Trova World Village Marta Topferova’s third recording for World Village, Trova focuses on the traditional Cuban sound—mainly sones and trovas, but makes a few excursions to South America. Marta returns with her cuatro while adding guitar and maracas on this recording. Aaron Halvo (accordion, très, vocals), Roland Satterwhite (violin, vocals), Pedro Giraudo (bass, vocals) and Neil Ochoa (traditional Latin percussion) round it off the sweet Caribbean ( Come and Walk to the Hill ), and South American sounds ( The Fireflies ). Marta’s vocals sound warmer and lighter on Trova then on previous recordings—a mixture of honey and cinnamon. True to the trova and son traditions, poetry plays a central role either portrayed as Marta’s spiritual yearnings or the poetry of others reflecting on nature, love or transcendence over pain such as in the Pablo Raùl Trullenque and Carlos Carabajal’s Come to My Place without Knocking . The lyrical content radiates a wistful f...

  cover image missing Omara Portuondo Gracias World Village Gracias by Cuban chanteuse Omara Portuondo (Buena Vista Social Club), celebrates 60 years of making music. The 78-year old vocalist shines on this album proving that like wine, women vocalists also grow better with age. This charming collection of songs features delightful duets. O que Sera features Brazilian Chico Buarque, Amame como soy features fellow Cuban Pablo Milanes, the title track features Jorge Drexler and Drume negrita features Cameroon bassist and vocalist Richard Bona. So for those folks out there who enjoyed Omara's duet with the late Ibrahim Ferrer will be thrilled with this new recording. Other guest musicians include Omara's granddaughter, Rossio Jimenez, Cuban pianist Chucho Valdez, percussionist Trilok Gurta, and Cachaito Lopez, among other stellar talent. The sunny album was produced by Ale Siqueira and Swami Jr. Omara personally chose all the tracks which include favorites from her...