Customer Reviews

Tengo Fe

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

 

 

Vives demonstrates once again why he is the present number one Colombian artist. The combination of typical and native instruments with common rock-n-roll ones gives this CD a different flavor. In "Que diera", Vives provides us with a García Marquez type of story of love and disenchantment. "Los Buenos Tiempos" evokes the days small towns waited for the train to pass by bringing news and civilization. "Pambe" honors Miguel Cervantes "Pambele", Colombia's greatest boxer, who now fights against his own misery and alcoholism. "Malas Lenguas" is Vives' classy response to those who have critized his style. "Caballito" and "Interior" are songs written by Vives for his current love, his daughter Lucía. In general, the album is Vives' contribution to Colombia's search for hope , peace and a better future for coming generations.

Carlos Vives is an international treasure, and deserves popularity far beyond the Spanish-speaking world. His previous CD, La Tierra del Olvido, is one of the best disks of the 90s in any language. This one is darker and much less exuberant. There are only one or two toe-tapping dance tunes (and those are in minor keys), fewer love songs (and those are all about love lost, not love present). That said, Tengo Fe is strong and admirable. It continues Vives' project of making Columbian roots-pop, although the accents here are decidedly more on the European ballad style and less on polyrhythms and traditional instruments, especially on the first half of the disk. One suspects a bid for the Julio Iglesias market. Lyrically, the disk is more sophisticated and interesting than Vives' previous work. Los Buenos Tiempos, for instance, evokes a familiar image from Vives' countryman Garcia Marquez, the train line that brings economic development and environmental destruction to the interior, but treats the tradeoffs with more respect than Garcia Marquez's romanticized approach. My favorite songs are the lovely title track, a love-lost/peace-found ballad, Sol de Mediodia, something of a protest song about work, Cumbia Americana, a slinky, syncopated dance number, and the nursery-rhyme-based Caballito. If you are at all interested in Vives and don't already own it, buy Tierra del Olvido immediately, then come back for Tengo Fe if you want more.

me encanta la musica de vives. De sus trabajos , esta es la excepcion. Aqui no encontramos ni el ritmo,ni el espiritu de la musica que lo caracteriza, y el resultado es un cd totalmente obviable, que no aporta nada a la notables producciones de este interprete.( afortunadamente retoma su mejor estilo en el siguiente ¨el amor de mi tierra¨

I tried some of the samples on Amazon and decided not to buy.
My wife and I are HUGE fans of this Colombian, but the songs seem somber and apologetic . . . Sure Carlos Vives has his share of issues, however - pouring the positive things in his life and driving the music may be a better way of showcasing his superior talent . . . (Instead of allowing Fonseca to copy his style, at times.) Bring back the old Carlos Vives por Dios!

Claro, no se parece a los otros de Carlitos. PERO, de vez en cuando se me hace que alguien debe tratar algo nuevo. Me facina Interior, es preciosa, Que Diera tambien es preciosa y Malas Lenguas me parece perfecta. Tiene un buen sentido del humor (sp?) Y tiene canciones tiernas que me hicieron llorar. Me facina todo lo que canta Carlitos, sus Vallenatos tienen tanto sentimiento, Y facina que cuando canta, uno le nota la sonrisa en su vos.

Carlos Vives is the second best Latin singer in the world. If you love Juan Gabriel, you will love Carlos Vives

I went in search of Vives' disks after realizing that he was the singer of La Gota Fria (which apparently is no longer available). I'm a big fan of Cuban music, and I'm just getting into some Columbian. Though I liked a few of these songs, they are too "pop" for my tastes. Some even bordered on the cheesy. I don't mean anything against Vives since his other disks have been better, but I really am not very fond of this CD.