AMAROK
Mujer
Luna
(Luna Negra, 2002, 5147)
Tracklisting :
Mujer
luna (409), En el parque (649),
Arabesca
en 4 mov (909),
Sueño
sueños (842),
Duo para tabla y saz n.1 (158), Nana
para el hijo de la tierra (215), Donde
estas mi amor (357),
Tierra austral (941), Donde
estas mi amor (233), Duo
para tabla y saz 2 (234)
Musicians
:
Robert
Santamaria : keyboards, turkish saz in D and A, 12 string guitar, kanun, charango,
autoharp, dulcimer, acoustic bas, accordeon, glockenspiel, marimba, derboukas, talking
drum, tambourine, krabs, kalimba, vibraslap, greek spoons, chiquitsi, castanets, rain
stick, claps
Victor Estrada : spanish guitar, electric bass
Manel Mayol : flute, didgeridoo, backing vocals
Mireia
Sisquella : saxophone
Carlos Galego : electric guitar, vocals
Pau Zanartu : drums
Marta Segura : lead vocals
Robert Abella : drums
José Walero : tabla
Candela
Casas : vocals
Miguel Angel Ortin : sax, clarinet
Eva Zapata : backing vocals
Cristina
Morales : backing vocals
Mainly
composed by Robert Santamaria needless to say a lot of keyboards will slip into the
original compositions. As happens so often with these kind of bands the music absorbs a
lot of authentic Spanish elements holding the middle between folk and lush symphonic
material. At the park seems to be an older track which was composed way back
in 1979 inspired by the film "Hiroshima mon amour" hence the aggressive
vocals of Carlos Galego. The marimba fuses nicely with the distorted guitar
before a fierce organ sets in. I probably will never understand why the voice of a small
child is inserted towards the end or it should be to serve as an excuse to end this song
with a musical box type of atmosphere.
Spanish bands tend to take in a lot of Morish influences which is exactly what
happens when Amarok delivers "Arabesca in 4 mov". Fuelled by
ethnic percussion and swirling violin the song evolves giving way for flute and even
didgeridoo in order to become trance-like. In fact the long instrumental flavour of the
song contains a lot of acoustic beauty coming close to medieval themes combined with
authentic Jethro Tull influences. During "Sueño Sueños" Santamarias
organplaying tends to be in the footsteps of Keith Emerson yet this happens only
briefly. Once again tabla is introduced which in combination with Marta Seguras
voice and autoharp delivers yet again a fair amount of folky material. Once the clarinet
sets in followed by jazzy saxophone you get material which could easily come from a band
like Isildurs Bane. Santamarias love for ethnic instruments is
illustrated by means of "Duo for Tabla & Saz n° 1" where he
sees the possibility to fit the unique sound of both instruments in one new song.
An acoustic guitar combined with voice kind of automatically delivers the authentic
feel of the native country as proves "Nana
para el hijo de la tierra".
And the love for Spain continues throughout "Donde
estas mi amor".
More daring with a dash of avantgarde innovation can be traced throughout "Tierra
austral".
Compiled out of five individual parts this is the longest track on the album. A dark
repetitive piano pattern gives way for a more intimate nature governed by wonderful flute,
strings and acoustic guitar. Especially the final part of the song is divine with a major
role for both flute and violin. With "Donde
estas mi amor
(conclusión)" Amarok kind of delivers a jig which could easily be
from Minimum Vital. The album closes with a second version of Santamarias
merging of tabla and saz.
Amarok delivers a fine album yet it combines two rather seperate worlds. On
one side they try their hand at pure symphonic music with loads of Spanish elements whilst
on the other hand they illustrate their love for ethnic material by introducing a fair
amount of foreign elements. In the end you get two atmospheres instead of one vision so
for a next album Id love to see these two ideas merged into one.
John Bo
Bo Bollenberg |