Son De La Frontera [Import]

Son de la Frontera | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: World Village USA
• ASIN: B000DZIGBC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,572 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's rare to find an audio album that utilizes a dancer to great effect, but there is occasionally a flamenco effort that captures the rhythms and excitement of the art form. Son De La Frontera is such an effort. A tribute to the groundbreaking guitarist Diego del Gastor (1908-1973), the album features his songs performed by a top-flight quintet. Dancer Pepe Torres is a true artist here, not only tapping out complicated time signatures but also eliciting a broad array of sonic textures from his feet. Along with two percussionists (one which occasionally sings), the group also features precise but fiery playing by Raul Rodriguez on Cuban tres guitar and Paco de Amparo on traditional flamenco guitar, giving the songs a broader steel-and-nylon-stringed palette that is both Old World and New. With no gratuitous use of electronics, the real innovation here is the exceptional abilities of the players and their broad faith in these great flamenco songs to create breathlessly exciting music. ­--Tad Hendrickson

Mojo Magazine, December 2005

"The best new group I've heard this year, in any genre." - Jackson Browne

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Musical Crossroads of Iberia, July 14, 2007

By 

E. A. Guerra (Hialeah, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Son De La Frontera (Audio CD)

Son de la Frontera's debut CD is an exquisite blend of emotionally-charged, heart-stirring flamenco music, mostly drawn from Diego Del Gastor's rich legacy in Moron de la Frontera. Mixed in with the beautiful, stirring sounds of the Cuban trés played by Raúl Rodríguez; the haunting voice of Moises de Moron; and the compás of the rhythm section; their debut is an impressive work.

While others would rave on about "Como el agua entre las piedras" and the centerpiece "Cambian los tiempos", my favorite track on this CD is number three, "Bulería del corazón". It is truly a beautiful track with so much potential. Ironically, it is one of their more original works. The chord progressions are beautifully crafted like an artisan building a Spanish guitar, carefully crafting the body and winding its strings. It is truly a song that enters the heart.

Other tracks include its resounding beginning, "Bulería Negra del Gastor", the main homage piece to their master, Diego Del Gastor. Other tracks are equally phenomenal.

By the way, I saw Son de la Frontera two years ago playing at a concert at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami, before heading to Madrid, Spain with my school!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect blend, October 26, 2006

By 

Molly Myers (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Son De La Frontera (Audio CD)

Beautiful, hypnotic, Arabic-tinged Andalucian music. More naturally flowing than some of the new Hispano-Arab music. Relaxing but not new-agey or medieval.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top-flight modern flamenco, February 27, 2008

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Son De La Frontera (Audio CD)

Raw-boned, energetic Spanish flamenco, with a warm stylistic twist. Guitarist Raul Rodriguez introduces the double-stringed Cuban tres guitar into the flamenco ouvre, and the cross-cultural experiment pays high dividends. The mellifluous tres, which lends itself to melodic improvisation, adds a fluidity to the ofttimes severe flamenco style, while the crushing muscularity of flamenco gives the tres a bit of a goose, demanding it be played with more authority and force. Mostly, though, this is a traditionalist album, with Rodriguez and his cohorts taking up the mantle from one of Seville's master musicians, Diego del Gastor, who developed much of the group's repertoire. If you enjoy flamenco with its original raw, elemental power, the thunderous chords and keening vocals, then this electrifying debut will knock your socks off. Recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue music reviews)