29 diciembre 2013

La canción de la semana #402

The last song of the year is Mapu (Tierra), sung in Mapuche and Spanish by Noelia Pucci, a singer and composer from Neuquén Province, Argentina. A slightly different version of this song appears on her debute album, Noe Pucci.

20 diciembre 2013

La canción de la semana #401

...is All Along the Watchtower performed by Eliades Ochoa. This song appears on the new album From Another World: A Tribute to Bob Dylan, a collection of 13 Dylan's songs re-nterpreted by musicians from Algeria, Australia, Bhutan, Egypt, India, Iran, Hungary, Macedonia, Myanmar, Romania, Taiwan and, of course, Cuba.

14 diciembre 2013

La canción de la semana #400

Our 400th (!) song of the week is Apriétame asi by Dominican accordionist, singer and composer Lidia María Hernández López, better known as La India Canela.

From the liner notes to her 2008 album, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic:

The song that made La India famous in the early 1990s, this merengue is in the mambo-based style that was then just beginning to bring típico back into the public eye. Tho first mambo section starts at about 2:00; a second mambo enters after the next verse, and is filled in with bass and conga solos.

And what solos: short, inventive, fun solos. Electric bass may have replaced marimba in merengue típico bands, but — pay attention! — between 2:52 and 3:04, the bassist Alfonso González Perdomo is doing his fantastic imitation of marimba sound.

07 diciembre 2013

La canción de la semana #399

...is A trace of grace composed by Michel Godard and performed by Godard (serpent), Helena Rüegg (bandoneon) and Quique Sinesi (guitar, charango). This theme appears on the trio's album Días de felicidad (2012).