Guaracha

Born Jose Calderon in Spanish Harlem N.Y.C. of Puerto Rican parentage, conga player anad bandleader Joe Cuba was one of the most successful N.Y. Latin artists in crossing over to non-hispanic audiences. At the forefront of the Latin boogaloo trend, which incorporated black music in a fusion of Latin rhythms and piano montunos with R&B and even jazz, his sextet used English to penetrate the American public, sometimes using themes which incorporated the two languages. Tnis CD of some of the finest work by the Joe Cuba Sextet is compiled from the five key albums Steppin Out, Diggin' The Most, Comin' At You , Breakin' Out, and Para Enamorados Siempre, which they recorded for the revered N.Y. Seeco label from 1962-64. The Joe Cuba Sextet played more than boogaloo. As you will hear on this CD, their repertoire features superb Latin-jazz, joyful mambo, cha cha, bolero, guaracha and other Afro-Cuban rythms including a grooving version of Tito Puente's 'Oye Como Va'.

This program offers three lively, colorful, and captivating orchestral works by two United States composers, born almost a century apart. These pieces exhibit the fruitful exchange and flow of musical material between North and South America that has long played a role in popular music, apparent not only in commercial song and dance music using Latin American melodies and rhythms but also in early jazz and blues where tango rhythms are so often heard, as in W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues. And both Gottschalk in the 1850s, close to the beginning of a creative American musical tradition, and Gould in the 1950s, when such a tradition had flowered considerably, show a combination of seriousness of approach with a popular touch.

Accademia del Piacere, Fahmi Alqhai & Arcangel - Las Idas y las Vueltas (2012) {CD with DVD5 PAL Alqhai&Alqhai004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 281 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 109 Mb
DVD5 -> 1.93 Gb | All Regions | PAL 16:9 | LPCM, 2 ch | ~ 33 min | ISO Image | Subs: Eng, Sp
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 164 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Alqhai & Alqhai | Alqhai&Alqhai004
Classical / Flamenco / Baroque / World Music

Comings and goings: mestizo musics. Baroque music of the colonial era in dialogue with the Flamenco. Arcángel and Fahmi Alqhai record the dialogue between flamenco and baroque music ‘Las idas y las vueltas’. Arcángel and Accademia del Piacere, conducted by Fahmi Alqhai, have finished recording the project ‘Las idas y las vueltas’. The album, which will come together with a DVD about the show, will be released this April by the independent label Alqhai&Alqhai. The disc will include the encounter between colonial baroque music and flamenco which the cantaor and the classical music group premiered at the 2011 International Music and Dance Festival of Granada, and which has already been presented at forums like the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Elche’s Medieval Festival, among others.

This disc of Iberian and Latin American Renaissance music is a reissue cleverly disguised as a new release. It compiles music from several recordings by Catalonian visionary Jordi Savall, his luminous-voiced collaborator Montserrat Figueras, and his Hesperion XXI and Capella Reial de Catalunya ensembles, dressing them up with a new set of rather philosophical booklet notes on themes of change, of intercultural tolerance, and of the evolving nature of Christianity in the Iberian realm and in New Spain. Some might call this a cynical ploy, but actually Savall has always been moving in a circle, so to speak, spiraling inward toward a deeper musical understanding of the historical themes touched on here: the lingering effects of the legacy of medieval Iberia and its "mestissage" or mixture of cultures, the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles (Carlos) V (did you know that he was both the first monarch to be called "His Majesty" and the first to be honored with the claim that the "sun never set" on his empire?), and the relationships between cultivated and popular styles, both in Iberia and the New World.

Celebrating the union of classical and jazz, LSO Live’s latest release encapsulates the very best of the two genres with an irresistible selection of works by Bernstein, Stravinsky and Golijov, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Argentinian tango and jazz course through Golijov’s vibrant Nazareno. Superstar piano duo Katia and Marielle Labèque are flanked by brass, percussion and cello in this special arrangement for two pianos and orchestra by Gonzalo Grau.

Morton Gould was an American musical phenomenon, equally at home in classical, crossover and film genres, and the recipient of both GRAMMY and Pulitzer awards during his long and distinguished career. The Symphonettes represent Gould’s best crossover work—the Symphonette No. 4 deriving its character from Latin-American dance forms to make it one of his most popular compositions. The first movement of Symphonette No. 3 has been described as “a collection of dance band licks, full of bent notes and syncopations” and the central Pavanne of Symphonette No. 2 with its bluesy trumpet motif is one of Gould’s biggest hits. Spirituals for Orchestra utilizes the strings as a choir, with antiphonal responses in the rest of the orchestra.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Villancicos Y Danzas Criollas (2003) {Alia Vox AV9834}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 425 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 185 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 92 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Alia Vox | AV9834
Classical / Chamber Music / Vocal Music / Baroque / Renaissance / World Music

For the uninitiated, the music on Jordi Savall's new Villancicos y danzas criollas disc is a revelation, gleefully crossing lines between sacred and secular, artistic and popular, and, most strikingly, European, African, and Amerindian. The selections included originated between the early 1500s and the early 1700s, and, unlike those on the Harp Consort's similar Missa Mexicana disc, come from Spain as well as the New World. Indeed, the two recordings together offer a perfect introduction to this fascinating, unfailingly enjoyable and often comic repertory.