...is Moreno (Brasil) by Sílvia Pérez Cruz.
Studio:
Carlos Montfort: violin Marta Roma: cello Bori Albero: double bass
Hamilton de Holanda: mandolin, backing vocals Jota.pê: palmas, backing vocals Marta Roma: cello, backing vocals Renata Neves: violin, backing vocals Pedro Moraes, Alberto Pérez: double bass Lorenzo Gasconcelos: tambor Paula Raya, Paloma Ronai, Camila Costa: backing vocals Iara Cassano, Jefferson Bilisco: dancers Suelinda Corsino, Lola Cruz: actresses |
...is Diamantes salados by the Canarian cantautora and percussionist Nuria Herrero.
...is Tramuntana by Álvaro Lafuente Calvo aka Guitarricadelafuente. This song was featured in his recent (20 January 2026) Tiny Desk Concert.
Pablo Serrano: keys, piano, guitar, background vocals Pau Vehí: guitar, background vocals Belén Vidal: bass, electronics, background vocals Toni Llull: drums, background vocals Mikaela Vazquez: violin, background vocals Oscar Trujillo: cello, background vocals Ismael Zazo: viola, background vocals Alberto Torres: accordion, percussion, background vocals |
...is Amar by Gaia Banfi, performed live at ESMA in Rennes, France on 2 December 2025. This song appears on the Italian artist's album La Maccaia.
Un ramito de violetas (1974) is one of the most popular songs by the Spanish cantautora Evangelina Sobredo Galanes, better known as Cecilia (1948—1976). Among its many covers is a Latin jazz version by Sole Giménez.
This year started with lots of rain, so it would be appropriate to open the season with Il pleut sur la route, a 1935 tango composed by Henry Himmel and Robert Champfleury and made famous by Tino Rossi. I fist heard it when I was a child and had no clue what language it was sung in. Somebody said it was an "Argentine tango", so I thought it could be in "Argentinian language".
90 years later, Il pleut sur la route is an undisputed classic and is as Argentine as it gets. Just ask Chicos de Pampa (チコス・デ・パンパ).
Wow I am impressed: Rosalía's Lux made it to No. 1 (!) in The Guardian's list of the 50 best — mostly anglophone — albums of 2025. Mostly — but not completely. At No. 8 we encounter Bad Bunny with Debí Tirar Más Fotos. More interestingly, at No. 24 there is gloriously experimental Hagen by Titanic, a duo of Mabe Fratti and Héctor Tosta aka I. La Católica. Good choice, The Guardian. So, the last song of the year is, IMHO, the best song of the album, La Dueña. See you in 2026!
...is Ave Maria often (mis)attributed to Giulio Caccini (1551—1618). In fact it was composed by the Soviet musician Vladimir Vavilov (1925—1973) and first appeared on his 1970 LP «Лютневая музыка XVI—XVII вв.» (Lute music of the 16th–17th centuries)*. There, Ave Maria was performed by Nadezhda Vainer (vocal), Mark Shakhin (organ), and Vavilov himself (lute) and was ascribed to a "16th-century anonymous author". In 1975, Ave Maria appeared on the album Старинные Арии by Irina Bogacheva where it was attributed to Caccini.
Since then, the aria became enormously popular and has been performed by artists such as Irina Arkhipova, Sumi Jo, Andrea Bocelli, Julian Lloyd Webber, Libera, KOKIA, Amira Willighagen... I leave you with the instrumental version by Oiasso Kamerata (Irún, Spain) featuring Rebekka Riedel (cello).
| * | This record was a brilliant musical mystification: apart from Greensleeves and Galliard, all the tracks were composed by Vavilov. For example, the opener, Canzona, was ascribed to Francesco da Milano (1497—1543). In the 1980s, this song, as «Город золотой», with lyrics by Alexei Khvostenko and Anri Volokhonsky, was recorded by Aquarium and became one of their biggest hits. |
...is Cançó No. 6 (Canción No. 6) by the Catalan composer Federico Mompou, from the cycle Cançons i danses. Originally written for piano, it was a favourite encore of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. This song appears in the 1976 film Cría Cuervos by Carlos Saura. I liked the classical guitar version as played by the Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe in the recent (12 December 2025) Tiny Desk Concert.
...is Aquel Zuliano by Renato Aguirre, made famous by Ricardo Cepeda. Here's a version by Eliana Cuevas and Aquiles Báez, from the duo's 2021 album El Curruchá.
