Radio Tarifa - Rumba Argelina (2019 - Remaster) '2019

Tracks list

This work is the sum of deeply-felt musical traditions. A great part of it is
based on a language which has evolved over the last few years from the meeting
of three musicians: Benjamín Escoriza, Vincent Molino and myself. We call
this language Radio Tarifa. It has elements of medieval music (resulting from
research work carried out by the group Ars Antiqua Musicalis), Arabic music,
Flamenco and other styles; and added to this, the definitive contribution of
participating musicians and the producer Juan A. Arteche... (Faín S.
Dueñas)

The concept of this debut album from Spains leading roots ensemble is that you
are listening to a radio broadcast in Tarifa, Spains southernmost point, so that
you might hear a mixture of sounds from Spain and North Africa. And indeed
fuzzy, distant radio sounds introduce one song and close the album. The album
features an incredible variety of instruments, including among many others:
guitar, tar (Persian lute), buzuki (Greek mandolin), derbouka (North African
clay drum), ney (Arabic flute), crumhorn (a loud, buzzing Medieval wind
instrument), and the Indian harmonium. The group is not shy about including
modern popular instruments like soprano and tenor saxophone, electric organ, and
electric bass. The album features almost as many styles as it does instruments,
yet they tend to come together as one new style, rather than sounding like a
musical salad. The album starts off with the title track, a smooth mix of rumba
and flamenco. Oye, China is a love lament that plays the layered clip-clop
rhythm of the plucked instruments off the more continuous sounds of the
accordion and the breathy nsuri (Indian bamboo flute). Lamma bada is a straight
reading of one of the most oft-played tunes of the Arab world, using Radio
Tarifas favored instruments, retaining the songs modal structure (i.e., all the
instruments, even the bass, playing the same line at once). One song later in
the album stands out from all the rest. It is an adaptation of a song by a
Medieval troubadour named Walter von der Vogelweide originally called Nu Alrest
Lebe Ich Mir Werde, but which Radio Tarifa simply calls Nu Alrest. Dominated by
the crumhorns and the melancholy tenor of Javier Raibal, Nu Alrest carries a
potent charge of fantasy and sadness, conjuring images of crossing the desert
alone on camel. It is imagination like this that makes Rumba Argelina one of the
most important world music albums of the 1990s. (Kurt Keefner, AMG)

Benjamin Escoriza, vocals
Fain Sanchez Dueñas, darbuka, plato, backing vocals
Vincent Molino, ney, crumhorn, poitou oboe

01. Radio Tarifa - Rumba Argelina (2019 - Remaster) (3:36)
02. Radio Tarifa - Oye China (2019 - Remaster) (7:17)
03. Radio Tarifa - Lamma Bada (2019 - Remaster) (3:33)
04. Radio Tarifa - Mañana (2019 - Remaster) (3:41)
05. Radio Tarifa - La Canal (2019 - Remaster) (4:44)
06. Radio Tarifa - El Baile de la Bola (2019 - Remaster) (2:51)
07. Radio Tarifa - Soledad (2019 - Remaster) (4:19)
08. Radio Tarifa - La Mosca (2019 - Remaster) (2:40)
09. Radio Tarifa - Tangos del Agujero (2019 - Remaster) (3:16)
10. Radio Tarifa - Nu Alrest (2019 - Remaster) (7:13)
11. Radio Tarifa - La Pastora (2019 - Remaster) (3:06)
12. Radio Tarifa - Ronda de Sanabria (2019 - Remaster) (3:23)
13. Radio Tarifa - Bulerias Turcas (2019 - Remaster) (3:12)
14. Radio Tarifa - Nina (2019 - Remaster) (3:07)

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