Latin American Folklore Favorites

Artist: Various Artists
Label: Premium Music Coll.
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 777966601922
EAN: 0777966601922
ASIN: B00005IBGT

Release Date: 1998-10-20

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Tracks:

Adelita
Mulher Rendeira
Viva Jujuy (Viva la Feria) - Los Indios
Lola
Rio Manso - Los Indios
Mi Cafetal
Guantanamera
Cucaracha
Quien Te Amaba Ya Se Va - Los Indios
Llorona
Pajaro Campana - Los Indios
Bamba
Golondrina
Romanza de Espa
Calurosa - Los Indios
Cielito Lindo - Los Camperos de Valles

Customer Reviews:

A Real Treasure Chest of Latin American Folk Favorites.......2006-11-02

If you like Latin American folk music, lively, varied, and well-performed, you should order this CD without delay. You'll be glad you did. (Yes, it's that good!)

The selection is well-balanced, with many of the songs most popular in the US, complemented by several likely to be new to yanqui ears. What makes the disk stand out, though, is the consistently fine level of performance. The singers' voices are great: they sing clearly, blending well, and in tune. The instrumentalists play their parts just as they should be played: in proper style and very, very well. The recorded sound is excellent throughout. What more could anyone ask?

The two groups represented here--Los Campesinos and Los Indios--are unknown to me; a web search produces no information, either. It's too bad that such good groups are so little known. Still, this disk will sing their praises as long as it's heard.

The disk contains about 48 minutes of music: 2 instrumental tracks and 14 with vocals. All are sung in Spanish, except Mulher Rendeira, which is in Brazilian Portuguese. A few notes on the tracks follow:

"Adelita" is a love song from the Mexican revolution, quite well known in Mexico, I think, but likely unfamiliar to most US listeners. It's a lovely song, sentimental and impassioned, which was used in the 2004 movie "Pancho Villa," starring Antonio Banderas (available as a DVD disk on the HBO label).

"Mulher Rendeira" (lacemaking woman) is a fine song from northeastern Brazil adapted by Ze do Norte from a theme attributed to Virgulino Ferreira da Silva and featured in the movie "O Cangaceiro." Though do Norte started out as a poor cottonpicker he ended up as an internationally known musician/composer, and this is probably his best-known song. Two verses are presented here, along with the refrain, which says "Hey, lacemaking woman, you teach me how to make lace and I'll teach you how to love."

"Viva Jujuy" refers to the northwestern Argentinian province of Jujuy, in the Andes south of Bolivia. The valley of Humahuaca situated there gives its name to a well-known song, originally in Quechua but better known, as here, in Spanish translation: "La Fiesta de la Quebrada Humahuquena." It is a festive dance song mentioning native instruments (erke, charango, bombo). Its high spirits will lift anyone's mood and get their toes tapping.

"Lola", better known as "Ave Maria Lola," is a Caribbean song often found among salsa collections. Its refrain tells it all: "Ave Maria Lola, conmigo vas a acabar" (Ave Maria Lola, you're going to break up with me). Its lively rhythm belies its sad plaint of a rejected lover.

"Rio Manso" (calm river) refers to the river of that name in southern Argentina, and is another song of love gone awry. The poetic words, by Andres Calamaro, say in part, "I could not make you happy, so I beg you to forget me. I'm like the (river) Parana, which, without slowing its pace, kisses the beach and goes on." The music features the alternation between major and minor modes which is characteristic of this genre, and makes a lovely effect.

"Mi Cafetal" (my coffee plantation) is an old familiar Carribean tune which says "Everybody's always criticizing me, but I go on, carefree as always. They don't know I have a beautiful coffee plantation." The refrain says "Yo tengo mi cafetal, y tu ya no tienes na'" (I have my coffee plantation, and you've got nothing!) This is a bright and contagiously upbeat song.

"Guantanamera" is, of course, known to most everyone these days. Here is is presented in an easy, laid-back rhythm which lets the sweet harmonies and the words by Cuba's poet-patriot Jose Marti shine through: "I'm an earnest man from where the palmtrees grow..." It's a welcome reminder that that Guantanamo was once a nice little seaside town, before the US leased it for a naval base and built its notorious prison.

"La Cucuracha" is too familiar to say much about, except that it's the prettiest song about a cockroach that one can imagine. It tends to accumulate witty little verses, some of which may be a bit less than squeaky clean. As usual, Los Campesinos do any excellent job of presentation.

"Quien Te Amaba Ya Se Va" is A. Rodriquez Escudero's remarkably beautiful and tender tonada of sad resignation over the loss of love. The singer says "the one who loved you is now leaving, since another has come. Your torments will end and your boredom will go away. And if you hear a bell toll, don't ask who died: it has to be the one who loved you." This song also features major-minor mode alternation.

"La LLorona" (the weeping woman) is another very well-known song, from Mexico, supposedly about a ghost-woman weeping for her dead children. The only words to this song that I've ever seen, though, have no apparent connection to the ghost legend. They are, as here, simply a lover's words to the object of his affection. For example: "Y aunque la vida me cueste, LLorona, no dejare de quererte" (And even though it should cost me my life, Llorona, I won't give up loving you).

"Pajaro Campana" (bird of the plains) This is a long established, standard harp virtuoso piece which, though I first heard it at a folk concert in Venezuela, is widely known thoughout South America. The piece, which imitates bird sounds, is very well rendered here by Los Indios.

"La Bamba" is a "son jarocho," a particular form of music from the Veracruz region of Mexico, and this song is a very old, traditional wedding dance song. Though the words are simple enough, their meaning is subject to varied interpretations. In any case, it's a super-popular song not only in Mexico, but also in the US and all over the world since Ritchie Valens recorded it in the 1950s. Though its traditional use in weddings has largely died out, special groups, such as the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico still perform the music and dance in a stunning manner: the "bride" and "groom" while dancing manage jointly to tie a long ribbon into a neat bow, using only their feet!

"La Golondrina" (the swallow) was composed in 1883 by a Veracruz (Mexico) composer named Narciso Serradel Sevilla and became known in the US in 1906 when it was recorded by "Senor Francisco" on a Victor 78 rpm disk. It's a widely known song of sweet longing for one's native land, sung here in an appropriately sentimental way. Very sweet!

"Romanza de Espana," often known simply as "Romanza" or some other variation, is a remarkably beautiful traditional Spanish tune, best known as a classically elegant guitar solo. It became widely known when Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes included his arrangement of it in the soundtrack for the 1952 French film "Jeux Interdits" and has subsequently been performed and recorded by many prominent guitarists. Here it is played by several guitar-like instruments in a lively arrangement which, though lacking the simplicity of the guitar solo, still manages to communicate the haunting loveliness of the piece without too much distraction.

"La Calurosa" (the warm one) is a fine folk dance-song featuring an interesting and catchy rhythm and two groups of voices singing in call-and-response fashion. It seems an authentic portrayal of what you might expect to hear at a local fiesta in some rural village in Latin America.

"Cielito Lindo" (beautiful sky) Though a "cielito" is a type of Argentinian dance song, by all accounts this very widely known piece is Mexican, and, though basically a love song, is quite a danceable one. Two of the best-known verses are presented here, along with the usual refrain, in a very enjoyable performance.

There's no doubt this CD merits a 5-rating for its excellent, lively, and varied performances of many fine pieces of Latin American folk music.

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