Cantos Gregorianos

A little over a hundred years have passed since Enrique Granados met his death in the English Channel. After an acclaimed concert tour that took him to New York at the height of World War I, a German submarine sank the ship on which he was returning to Europe. Many manuscripts by the famous pianist were also lost in the icy waters and must have included priceless treasures – as we may gather from the interpretations of his surviving works by Maria Luisa Cantos, the grande dame of Spanish piano music, on her latest recording. After Granados had initially been brought to safety, he plunged into the water to save his beloved wife and lost his life in the effort – lending a romantic element to this extremely tragic episode.

Salif Keita & Kante Manfila - The Lost Album (2007) {Cantos–MRA MR60552 rec 1980}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 315 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1980, 2007 Cantos / MRA Entertainment | MR60552
Afro-Pop / World Funk / World Fusion / West African

The Lost Album resurrects six lengthy and largely acoustic tracks recorded in 1980 by West African singer Salif Keita and his longtime collaborator, guitarist Kante Manfila. Musical partners since the late '60s, first in the Rail Band and then in Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux, Keita and Manfila seem to be moving away from that group's somewhat westernized Afro-pop sound with these sessions.

RVNG Intl's Frkwys is defined by the label as an "unrestricted series pairing contemporary artists with their influential predecessors…." This 11th volume places New York guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn and veteran guitarist, electronicist, and experimentalist Mike Cooper in Lisbon. They spent ten days drinking wine in fado bars, and playing long informal sessions informed by fado – the Portuguese music whose roots can be traced to the early 19th century but are reported to date back much earlier, and was originally regarded as "the music of the poor." There are six improvisations here and one free-flowing cover: an expansive reading of the Mississippi Delta standard "Pony Blues" associated with Charley Patton.

May 23rd: centenary of the great pianist Alicia de Larrocha. Iberia was a favorite of Larrocha, who performed and recorded this absolute summit of Spanish piano music very often. This is the original Hispavox recording of 1962, a feverish rendition full of panache that has rarely been equaled in the discography. It comes with some other hits by Isaac Albéniz.