Customer Reviews

Heart of the Immigrants

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my search for a different musical proposal I want to share my review of "Heart Of The Immigrants" (the second CD of the World Sinfonia series), as it occupies a very special place at the top of my list. Rich compositions with excellent and challenging interpretations achieve different moods within this acoustic, melodic and melancholic, and free fusion project.

"Heart of the Immigrants" includes five musical pieces from Astor Piazzola, the outstandingly creative Argentine composer who gave "tango" the possibility to grow and merge with other musical styles. Dimeola, who had the opportunity to meet Piazzola to exchange musical concepts, friendship, and their mutual admiration, manages to expresses the melancholic sentiment of Paizzola's tango. Dimeola evidences that he shares many of Piazzola's motivations that allowed him to transform music standards into a new musical concept. Piazzola's music is very difficult to play and specially cover -listen to the original CDs played by either his quartet or sextet-. The vertigo and movement that Piazzola imposes on his musical scales is unique, however, a virtuoso guitar player like Al Dimeola has the versatility needed to move within Piazzola's musical concepts. In addition, to Piazzola's tribute, the CD offers five themes from Dimeola's inspiration, two tunes from Arto Tuncboyacia, who is responsible for percussion and voice, and a cover of the jazz standard "Someday My Prince Will Come" which is offered as a tribute to Miles Davis according to Al Dimeola and Dino Saluzzi who plays the "bandoneon" in this project. The material written by Diemola is very sentimental and is executed with deep inspiration. The different acoustic guitars used by Dimeola and partner Christopher Carrington, together with the use of bandoneon, percussion, and voices, create a very unique atmosphere that distinguishes this material from any previous work done by Dimeola. The cover of "Someday My Prince Will Come" sounds more like a tango played by Piazzola than a jazz standard which fits in perfect with the mood and sound of the CD. There are no "circus of speed" acts in this project, although the guitar parts are very rich and carry a challenging degree of difficulty. I perceive that Al Dimeola, the same as Paco de Lucia, now that they have proven to be the "fastest draw in the axe", they can now explore and live music in a mature and versatile manner.

Given the decades of spectacular musicianship and collaboration on Di Meola's albums, it should come as no surprise that the composition of World Sinfonia II is as beautiful as it is imaginative. Though I'm of the camp that prefers a lesser degree of accordion in Di Meola's compositions, it's presence adds a matecom of quirkiness to the already great depth of the album. While not the most musically explosive of his albums, World Sinfonia II provides more of a lyrical sound to complement the abundance of acoustic guitar. Overall a good buy, though I do prefer the first World Sinfonia in terms of excitement, as well as The Grand Passion.
In general, this is an album to be added to the Di Meola fan's collection, rather than to be used as a starting point for the new listener.

Heart of The Immigrants is a CD I often find missing in the collections of Al Di Meola enthusiasts whom I know. I have even been guilty of overlooking it myself when I am picking out some Di Meola CDs to play. Perhaps its because it was issued so close on the heels of the first World Sinfonia album, or perhaps its because so many songs here are also on the Di Meola Plays Piazzolla album. Whatever the reason, its obscurity is hard to fathom.
No doubt this CD has a very strong Piazzolla component. There are five Piazzolla compositions scattered throughout, three of them being part of the history of tango suite first presented by him on the rare Hommage a Liege album. But there are a lot of other very good compositions as well on this neglected near-masterpiece.
I don't know where the reviewer is coming from who complained about "accordions". There are no accordions here. There is the fine bandoneon work of Dino Saluzzi, but a bandoneon is an accordion like a cornet is a trumpet. The best way to describe the overall ambience of the album is a mystical and otherworldly sound that induces the mind to wander to the exotic and the unknown.
Besides the Piazzolla pieces, the best pieces are: Carousel Requiem, a dreamy Di Meola piece that evokes a popular Portuguese folk dance; Indigo, a delicately soaring Di Meola original; Heru Mertar/Don't Go So Far Away, an exotic composition by Turkish percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian that inspires feelings of near-religious serenity; and Di Meola's Parranda, an energetic piece deeply infused with the mournful tones of the bandoneon.
I first bought this years ago on cassette, then later on CD. Though I confess to long periods of bypassing it, Heart of the Immigrants is one of those albums that sound better every time I come back to it. If you are one of those who somehow missed this album when it was first issued, now is the time to get it. It has disappeared from sellers' stocks several times, and there is no guarantee that it will be reissued indefinitely.

Typically technically impressive and overly-ambitious with all too familiar phrasings.

Al DiMeola is no doubt one of my favorite musicians (regardless of instrument played). He is one of if not probably the best / most talented guitarist in the world. However, that said, this is not one of his better efforts. He should not venture too far into the "World Music" category. He is first and foremost a Jazz/Fusion Guitarist, and he should stick with what he does best.

This is a great CD! Al DiMeola has a lot of stuff out, so be careful; he is a musical virtuoso. However, this is great to start a collection. Isn't representative of all of DiMeola since he is so diverse, but with songs such as "Heru Mertar" (middle eastern flavor), "Cafe 1930" and "They Love Me From Fifteen Feet Away" and others on the CD, will certainly give the listener a feel of tango more than a salsa or a marengue. Worth the buy!

I bought this CD because DiMeola is a master and I was pretty sure all the instruments would be acoustic. I should have realized by the title that it would have accordions (gag) and Portugese(?) singing. However, it has slightly grown on me, and, in spite of it's old world/european feel, it actually has a few somewhat catchy tunes.

According to the liner notes, the album was recorded without overdubs...unfortunately, some of the singing needs editing (DiMeola plays flawlessly, though).