In 2006, the Berman Brothers (Frank & Christian) created and produced the Album “Rhythms del Mundo”, a non-profit collaborative effort which fused an all-star cast of Cuban musicians including Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo of the Buena Vista Social Club. The new album released on the occasion of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Just as “Rhythms del Mundo” Cuba, it contains rearranged pop hits, but this time in a Brazilian Samba and Bossa Nova sound garment. In order to achieve the authenticity that also distinguished “Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba, the Berman Brothers recorded with Brazilian musicians, as well as internationally popular pop-voices.
This album takes off from where a previous Jordi Savall release, Villancicos y danzas criollas (Creole Dances and Villancicos), left off. Now Savall, aided by his wife and lead vocalist Montserrat Figueras, as well as several of his longtime co-conspirators, has formed a new group, Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, specifically devoted to the Latin American Baroque repertory heard here. The album is accompanied by an impressive 172-page booklet, with all texts in the original language, generally Spanish but with mixtures of Native American and African speech, English, French, Castilian Spanish, German, and Italian, and booklet notes (in all those languages plus Catalan), including an overview of the genres involved plus a historical essay on the culture of the Spanish-colonized Latin-Caribbean region.
The rich variety of colours and rhythms in South American culture and music are an essential feature of this programme, which focuses largely on music by composers from the Ecuadorian Andes. Opening with Durán’s popular and crowd-pleasing Leyenda incásica, the theme of Ecuadorian dances continues in Jacinto Freire’s Suite, which also celebrates the flight of the condor. Virtuosity, evocations of landscape and expressive traditional songs can all be found here, concluding with Mexican composer Samuel Zyman’s internationally acclaimed Flute Sonata No. 1, which ranges from lyrical introspection to intensely contrapuntal dialogue.
Juan Rodriguez known as Juan El Flaco is a flamenco guitarist born in 1973 in France (Lyon currently resides) to a Gypsy family (The Marians and Los Bolecos), originally from Almeria. Self-taught guitarist, he has performed with leading figures of modern flamenco and Potito, Guadiana, Enrique The Piculabe, David de Jacoba, Saul Quiroz, Rafiki Madrid, Miguel El Rubio, Pack, Piranha, Manolo Franco, Vicente Amigo, Esperanza Fernandez, Chicuelo Miguel Poveda, Paloma Fantova, Jose Maya, Belen Lopez, Karime Amaya, … and their performances have been featured on numerous European stages (Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Germany, France, ….).
Night & Day by Andres Jimenez Trio is a captivating jazz album released by Tcb The Montreux Jazz Label. This album showcases the exceptional talent of the trio, led by pianist Andres Jimenez, as they deliver a mesmerizing blend of traditional and contemporary jazz.