Lillie
Joined: Apr 09, 2010 Posts: 15 Location: LA
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:31 pm Post subject:
Luna Blanca El Dorado CD Subject description: Luna Blanca Uses El Dorado As /the Theme Of their New Album |
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The title of the new album by the group Luna Blanca is El Dorado, which you may remember from history class is the name of the Lost City of Gold that the Spanish conquistadors heard about in the Americas and searched for. Some history books claim the golden buildings that were seen in the distance were really just mud huts with bright sunlight reflecting off them. The term “El Dorado” has evolved over the years and now stands for any big prize that someone searches long and hard for. So this is not only the title of the Luna Blanca album, but also the loose theme that the instrumental music follows throughout.
If you have not been paying attention the past few years, Luna Blanca is one of the best of the so-called nouveau-flamenco or modern-flamenco groups in the world. Hardly anyone plays flamenco like the Spanish gypsies did in their caves a hundred or even sixty years ago, so any act that mixes in additional instruments beyond castanets could be considered “nouveau.” But regardless, Luna Blanca is giving the Gipsy Kings and Ottmar Liebert a run for their money. And like those acts, Luna Blanca is from Europe (specifically Germany where Liebert started before immigrating to the U.S.).
Following through on the South American them of the CD, Luna Blanca titled some of the tunes with Spanish names: the very uptempo “Los Ojos,” the beautiful title track, the electric-guitar punctuated “Desperado,” the bluesy and harmonica-spotlighted “Medianoche” and “Rio Mamore,” the pretty “Guapa,” the very rhythmic “Dos Guitarras,” the Latin-horn-section sound of “Kolibri,” the soft guitar-cello-violins of “Conquistador,” and the piano-featured “Puesta del Sol.”
The recording has a lot of nice melodies and a good balance between uptempo tunes and ballads. Highly recommended. |
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