Ana Moura

fado

Ana Moura always had the ambition to sing. She started working two years ago at Senhor do Vinho, the house of fado where she met Jorge Fernando, who went on to produce this album, her recording début. Prior to that, she had already tried her hand at fado, on Sunday nights, at a neighborhood bar. It was the local guitarists who brought her to the House of Fado in Lisbon. Gradually, Ana Moura became well-known through word of mouth, and after she performed in a television program called "Fados de Portugal," the newspapers took notice. The writer Miguel Esteves Cardoso spoke very highly of her: "Ana Moura, besides the perfect voice and interpretation, has the rare and primitive quality that Argentina Santos has, indeed, natural, without effort or premeditation."

Juan Carlos Romero

latin, guitar

Born in Huelva. Spain in 1964, Juan Carlos Romero began his musical training at the age of eight under the guidance of his father, an amateur guitarist. At ten, he began to take lessons from the person who is considered to be his first great maestro, Miguel "El Tomate de Almería", who also introduced him to some important guitarists including his own son "El Niño Miguel" and his grandson "Tomatito." Romero had his first experiences with cante and baile accompaniment in Matilde Coral's and Rafael el Negro's dance school, and later on with Manolo Marín and "El Mimbre." His guitar has accompanied the vocals of first-line artists such as José Mercé, Turronero, Chano Lobato, Paco Toronjo and Boquerón. Romero was awarded the Premio Nacional de Guitarra in the prestigious contest of Jerez de la Frontera, in the specialty of concert guitarist. He took part in several tours with Manolo Sanlúcar, in addition to participating in his recording work with pieces for guitar and orchestra such as "Soleá" or "Medea", which were composed for Spain's Ballet Nacional. This important and fruitful part of his career was decisive in the maturity and solidification of his ever more demanding artistic personality. In 1992, with the Exposición Universal de Sevilla, he participated as first guitarist in Rafael Albertí's work "La Gallarda", along with grand voices and actors such as Montserrat Caballé, Ana Belén, José Sacristán, the choreography of José Antonio, and the Canary Islands Orquesta Sinfónica. Romero was asked to play for the soundtrack and eventual filming of the movies directed by Carlos Saura, "Sevillanas" and "Flamenco", which included an extensive list of the most important artists of flamenco cante, baile and guitar. His compositions are in demand and are interpreted by Rocío Jurado, Enrique Morente, Carmen Linares, and El Pele, for whom he has also recorded and produced several recordings in addition to numerous television appearances.

Ojos de Brujo

flamenco hybrid

Ojos de Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard) is a seven-man/one-woman collective from Barcelona that fuses flamenco's driving rhythms with hip-hop, funk, punk, and other stray sounds snatched from the Barcelona street. The group calls this musical mashup "Jip Jop Flamenkillo" - a sound that catapults flamenco into the 21st century without losing any of the power or passion of the music's roots. Founded in 1996 as an informal pickup group, Ojos de Brujo has evolved to include members from all over Spain. Together onstage they ignite like a Molotov cocktail, serving up flamenco sounds with punk rock intensity and hip-hop attitude – as if a caravan of Gypsies found itself temporarily transported to the Warped Tour. The group's searing live performances have won them legions of fans all over Spain and the European festival circuit, and their fan base in the US is rapidly growing.

Mariana Montalvo

latin, vocals

Like many of her compatriots from Chile, Mariana Montalvo was forced into a life of exile. Although she has been living in France since the days of Pinochet, Montalvo's connection to her roots has remained strong. Her music provides fresh interpretations of the folk music of Chile in the tradition of legendary Latin American singers such as Victor Jara, Violetta Para and Mercedes Sosa. Montalvo's original compositions feature instantly accessible melodies and unique instrumentation such as the South American charango (guitar), quena (panpipes), and the trombone, which reflects the influence of Andean brass bands on Montalvo's arrangements. For many years, she was a member of the popular group Los Machucambos, which is famed throughout Europe for their faithful interpretations of South American traditional music.

Simón Díaz

latin, composer

Simón Díaz, born in Venezuela in 1928, is the most celebrated singer and composer of Venezuelan music. His work is regarded as one of the most important legacies for both Venezuelan and Latin American popular music. Simón Díaz is known foremost for his recovery of the songs of the Venezuelan plains (llanos). He succeeded in turning the songs of the Venezuelan countryside into an authentic musical genre and now part of the regular repertoire of Latin superstars such as Argentina's Mercedes Sosa, and Brazil's Caetano Veloso and Ivan Lins. Besides being an icon in Venezuela, Díaz is also one of the most popular and universal artists in Latin music. Simón Díaz is best-known worldwide as the author of "Caballo Viejo" (also re-named "Bamboleo" and an international hit for the Gipsy Kings). His compositions have been performed by a who-s who of Latin music greats, including Plácido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Juan Gabriel, Tania Libertad, Paquito d' Rivera , etc. The prestigous Latin American TV Channel A&E MUNDO has produced a documentary dedicated to Simón Díaz under its acclaimed "Biography" series, which premiered in South America in September 2004.

Tania Libertad

Peruvian, vocals

Tania Libertad is considered one of the great singers of Latin American music. Born in a small town on the north coast of Peru, Libertad began her artistic career at the age of five. She soon had her own television program, Tania Presents. Now a citizen of Mexico Tania Libertad takes great liberty with a wide variety of musical styles. Her music is truly multicultural, representing a place in the world where many peoples converge and interact. With more than 30 recordings to her name, Tania has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in the world. She has formed duets with many artists, including Pablo Milanés, Miguel Bosé, Joan Manuel Serrat, Armando Manzanero, Iván Lins, Azúcar Moreno, Vicente Fernández, Millie Colon, and Djavan. She has also shared the stage with Amalia Rodrigues, Mercedes Sosa, Rubén Blades, Madredeus, Luis Eduardo Aute, Gal Costa, Soledad Bravo, Ricardo Cocciante, Susana Rinaidi, Fito Paez, Lucha Villa, and Zucchero. Tania Libertad was appointed an "Artist for Peace" by UNESCO in 1997, and she often gives benefit performances for various causes.

Monica Salmaso

Brazilian, vocals

Born in São Paulo Brazil in 1971, Mônica Salmaso is considered by many world music critics to be one of the finest young voices in Brazilian music today. Her original ambition was to become a journalist, but taking vocal lessons to help her relax changed the course of her life. Salmaso has recorded and performed with important Brazilian artists like Edu Lobo, Eduardo Gudin, José Miguel Wisnik, Marlui Miranda, Guinga, Nelson Ayres and the Jazz Symphonic Orchestra of São Paulo. Salmaso rose to fame in 1999 when she won the Visa-Mastercard Eldorado Prize for best singer in Brazil among 1200 contestants nationwide. After releasing Voadeira — an album that features many of the same musicians as iaiá — Salmaso was also named "best singer" by the Associacão Paulista dos Críticos de Arte, the association of the Brazilian press.

Totó La Momposina

Colombian, vocals

A magnificent singer and dancer, Totó La Momposina has earned respect and admiration in many parts of the world for the power and spontaneity of her performance. Drawing on the music and dance of the Colombian Caribbean, her work is informed and inspired by a rich cultural mix that combines elements from African, Native Indian and Spanish traditions. This is an expression of a culture that has its origins in Africa (via the slave trade), Spain (through the influence of the invading colonists) and South America (from the indigenous Indian population). On stage, Totó's dynamic repertoire is accompanied by a range of traditional drums, gaitas, brass, tiple, bass, guitar, percussion and chorus. She presents rhythms such as the cumbia, bullerenge, chalupa, garabato and mapale from Colombia's Caribbean coast alongside Cuban son, guaracha, rumba and bolero son that arrived in Colombia via the village of San Basilio de Palenque. Toto hails - as did her ancestors - from the village of Talaigua, at the heart of an island in the great Magdalena River, called Mompos (hence "la Momposina"). The river, which rises high in the Andes, stretches out over a thousand miles to the Caribbean. In the sixteenth century, Spanish invasions forced the Indians to flee to the island's dense forests. In later years, runaway slaves intermarried with them. "The music I play," explains Toto, "has its roots in a mixed race: being African and Indian, the heart of the music is completely percussive."

Eliseo Parra

latin

Eliseo Parra is one of the great musicians of Spain, able to assimilate tradition, re-read it, and infuse it with a surprising modernity. Parra has spent a great part of his life investigating the folklore and tradition of all the cultures that have made up the Iberian Peninsula and, especially, all those that with time were lost and that in some cases are only in the hands of a few. Eliseo has recorded and preserved musical manifestations that, unfortunately, do not exist anymore. A cultural gift that is slowly disappearing and that thanks to work like his can be preserved and perpetuated. Few people can say they have recorded songs in our four official languages (Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Basque). There is hardly a Spanish region left to which Eliseo has not been to record, enrich and update some of its most traditional melodies. But, going even further than this work of investigation, Eliseo Parra shows us that traditional music is not, in any way, at odds with modernity, that it doesn't only belong to the past, and that it can be attractive and of great interest to new generations.

Los Amados

Buenos Aires, 50s/60s

A musical journey through boleros, mambos, cha-cha-chas, congas and danzones, Rutilantes offers an intoxicating mix of songs that recapture the sounds of the Latin Orchestras of the 1950s and '60s. Los Amados (The Beloved) are based in Buenos Aires and its band members come from different corners of Latin America: Uruguay, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guyana… In concert, Los Amados dress in the style of the period which they explore in their music. The CD includes 12 foot-stomping tracks opening with the gorgeous bolero "Soy tu esclavo" and featuring 1 video track, "Noche de Ronda."

Mártires del Compás

flamenco hybrid

Mártires del Compás was formed during the early 90's, when Chico Ocano, a rock guitarist who was passionately drawn to flamenco singing, moved from the Spanish frontier town of San Roque to Seville, where local musicians had already begun to blend ritualistic flamenco forms with assorted popular styles. The band's line-up eventually included Julio Revilla, whose personal odyssey had taken him from heavy metal to acoustic flamenco guitar and Alberto Alvarez, a rock drummer who became enchanted by the cajón, an Afro-Peruvian wooden box drum that has become ubiquitous in Spanish music circles. They were eventually joined by flamenco guitarist Manuel Soto, pop bassist Jesús Díaz, and female vocalist Rocia Vasquez. To say that the band's tongue-in-cheek "flamencobilly" sound initially met with a mixed reception would be something of an understatement. But eventually even the most consistently adversarial critics realized that their off-kilter sense of humor and restless experimentation were firmly underpinned by a disciplined and strangely protective command of flamenco fundamentals. A decade and half later, Mártires del Compás, one of Spain's most popular attractions, stands poised for world domination.

Manuel D'Oliviera

Spanish, guitar

Step aside, Gypsy Kings - make way for Manuel d'Oliveira. A self-taught guitar virtuoso who hails from Portugal, in his budding career he has already worked with such high-profile artists as Dulce Pontes, António Chainho, Carles Benavent and Jorge Pardo, to name a few. In 1997, d'Oliveira founded the band Mediterrâneo and they fairly sizzle in Amarte, his first international album featuring his own compositions, whose musical roots can be traced to a fusion of Iberian styles. Recorded live at Praça de Santiago in Gimarães, Portugal, the line-up features such prominent Portuguese musicians as David Leão (flute and bagpipe), Rui Ferreira (piano), José Lima (upright bass), Mário Gonçalves (drums), Sukdev Mishra (vocals), Wicas Tripati (tablas), Horacio Tomé Marques (percussion) and Miguel Teixeira (percussion).

Marta Topferova

bossa nova/latin

Born and raised in Prague and now living in the US, Marta Topferova sings Latin American music like a native. She is living proof that gaining a deep spiritual connection with a country and its music does not require hereditary ties. Although Topferova grew up singing folk and classical music with a Czech youth choir, a musical revelation at age six (she wore the grooves out on an album by the Chilean group Inti-Illimani) put her musical life on a totally different course. Even as she continued to sing the choral repertoire, Topferova spent every free moment exploring the music of Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, and Mexico, as well as Spanish flamenco. After spending two years in Spain and the Czech Republic, Topferova settled in New York City in 1996 and pursued Latin American music full-time. Since then Topferova has been actively composing, arranging and performing her original songs as well as collaborating with other groups including Lucia Pulido and Fiesta De Tambores, Los Acustilocos and Flamenco Latino. In addition to performances in New York City at Joe's Pub, The United Nations, Sweet Rhythm, The Duke Theater on 42nd Street, Topferova has performed at venues in Boston, Cleveland, Miami, San Francisco and Portland. She's also participated in festivals such as The World Music Festival in Chicago, and been featured on television and radio programs in the US, the Czech Republic and Mexico, including BBC's The World and NPR's Around Noon.

Son De La Frontera

flamenco

Son de la Frontera (Sound of the Frontier) refers to Flamenco's historic collision of North African and Roma (Gypsy) traditions, plus Spanish-and-African derived Latin sounds imported from the Americas and Caribbean. Deeply inspired by the legacy of Diego Amaya Flores del Gastor (1908-1973), the group got its start in del Gastor's hometown of Morón de la Frontera in 1995, with two of Diego's descendants, Paco de Amparo (flamenco guitar) and Pepe Torres (baile & compás/ dance & rhythm), along with Raul Rodriguez (Cuban tres), Moi de Morón (cante & compás/vocals & rhythm) and Manuel Flores (compás/rhythm.) The distinctive sound of the Cuban tres was added to the ensemble after Rodriguez discovered the Latin instrument's dulcet tones through his mother, the renowned singer Martirio, who accepted an invitation to perform in Havana with Buena Vista's Compay Segundo, and brought one home with her. Raúl eventually realized that flamenco falsetas (scales and arpeggios roughly analogous to jazz riffs) could be freely adapted to the instrument's three sets of double strings. Thus, the final frontier was breached and Son de la Frontera achieved its musical destiny.

Diego Amador

latin, piano

Diego Amador (popularly known as "El Churri") was born in 1973 into a well-known Seville-based Gitano (Spanish Roma, or Gypsy) musical dynasty. By age eleven, his singing voice was already unusually mature and he was well on his way to mastering piano, percussion, guitar and bass. After his older brothers Raimundo and Rafael founded the ground-breaking flamenco-rock band Pata Negra, Diego began performing with them as a drummer, meanwhile inventing and refining a keyboard technique capable of capturing all the complexity, passion and unpredictability typical of both his native traditions and American jazz. Over time, he forged a personal style incorporating the latter plus quotes from selected Latin sources, absorbing each tributary into the massive, centuries-old Arabic-Roma-Iberian wellspring that is his birthright. As his reputation grew, he collaborated with Spanish masters like La Susi, Remedios Amaya and Joaquín Grilo and was a long-time member of legendary guitarist Tomatito's sextet. He has also sat in with several international jazz stars, including Larry Coryell, Luis Salinas, Birelli Lagrène and Jerry González, and is active as a producer, with his own albums and works by artists like Antonio "El Potito"Vargas to his credit.

Record Label - Type

World Village - Independent

Artist's website

http://www.worldvillagemusic.com