Bilbao Oo:Oh

Kepa Junkera

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 16, 1999)
• Original Release Date: November 9, 1999
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Alula
• ASIN: B00001ZT11
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,832 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #92 in

  Music > World Music > Europe > Eastern Europe > Gypsy

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
One of the best recordings of 1998 is now available in the U.S. Basque accordionist Junkera has collaborated with a world of musicians to bring remarkable new energy and innovation to the trixitixa (the name of a popular Basque folk-music style and also the name of the diatonic accordion used to perform it). Junkera acts as a sly provocateur, getting a diverse group of players to highlight the power of his Basque music while freely insinuating their own heritage into the proceedings. Malagasy valiha (harp) player Justin Vali offers one of the prime examples, seamlessly weaving together Indian and Atlantic Ocean riffs with a huge cast of characters: Phil Cunningham, Bela Fleck, Carlos Núñez, and Martin O'Conner all offer solo spots in this distinctly Malagasy yet wildly universal music. Two fully packed CDs of musical cooperation includes contributions from Hedningarna, Dulce Pontes, La Bottine Souriante, Paddy Maloney, and a host of Spanish and Basque musicians in an array of simple folk, wild dances, daring experiments, and raucous madness. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical Smorgasboard, April 25, 2003

By	DJ ProFusion - WorldFusionRadio.com "DJ ProFu... (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews

This is an extraordinary double CD collection from renowned Basque musician Kepa Junkera. What? You've never heard of Kepa Junkera? Well, don't feel bad. American media's deep-seated ambivalence toward music from non-English speaking countries hides the world's greatest musicians from you. Kepa Junkera is a world-renowned (except in the U.S.) Txalaparta (a kind of accordion) player. He comes from the Basque region (northeastern Spain and southeastern France) a melting pot of cross-cultural influences.

Bilbao Oo:Oh was one of the best-selling albums throughout Europe and with good reason. It was a massive undertaking: 49 musicians from over a dozen countries collaborating on 23 songs across 2 CDs. Junkera bases his music on traditional Basque music, but is eager to mix it with other influences. On Bilbao Oo:Oh he brings in guest musicians such as Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains), members of Hedningarna (Sweden), Radio Tarifa (Spain), La Bottine Souriante (Canada), Justin Vali (Madagascar), Bela Fleck (U.S.), Phil Cunnigham (Scotland), and Carlos Nuñez (Spain). The range of musicians and influences keep everything fresh and very intriguing.

Every song has a distinctive and very pleasant melody and range from soft sweet ballads to energetic jigs. My favorites though are "Del Hiero A Madagascar," featuring the honey tenors of Pedro Guerra accompanied by Madagascan guitar, "Fali-Faly," an infectious Basque dance number, and "Bok-Espok," a high-energy jam session between Junkera and Swedish folk giants Hedningarna.

A trip around the world with Kepa Junkera as your host is one way to look at this set, but what's truly significant is the way in which musicians from seemingly unrelated cultures were able to play together without submerging their own unique musical flavors. Fans of folk music and world music will prize Bilbao Oo:Oh and it will be a favorite of their collection.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foot-tappin', happy music, January 19, 2000

By	P. Davis (Yardley, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Until you listen to this album, you cannot imagine how impossible it can be to sit still through a piece of music. I cannot remember a recent album so full of happiness and surprises. It lifts your soul. It is a wonder to hear musicians so obviously enjoying themselves. BUY THIS ALBUM!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gora kepa, September 10, 2002

By	A. J. Luengo Gaztelu "gora euskadi" (durango) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a delight from one end to the other. The production of this CD would have you believe that that it is full of multi track, gating effects and the like. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To see Kepa Junkera, his fellow musicians and singers live is to understand, it's all real music that can be played and sung by real people as an ensemble. If he requires double accordions for example he will have a second player. His extraordinary command of his instrument, sincerely sounds impossible without the help of hi-tech gadgets, yet it's all done with the instrument, no samplers, no noise gates. As if to stress this, the microphone on some tracks is so close to the sound source that you can hear the gasps of air as it is quickly sucked back inside for the next blast of tune. Incredible finger work, that EddieVan Halen would have trouble keeping up with!

His ensemble features performers from all aver the world; some of them singing in their local languages, though the dominant idiom is Euskera (Basque), as impenetrable as the African dialect featured on another track, but as beautiful to listen to as any aria.

Strangely although there are instruments and artists from around the world, the African sounding xylophone is in fact the behemoth "Txalabarta" instrument, used for communicating across the Basque mendiak (mountains). And the overall sound of the CD, (and Junkera's music in general) is unmistakably Basque rather than simply "world" music, though the whole planet seems to be in there! Could it be described as folk ambient? Too much dance, as in Fandango not rave. However this CD sounds very well when chilling out on a Sunday after the hectic Saturday night before, eyes closed in the stereo position, it will take you away on a journey in the sure knowledge that there's not one quantized midi riff, and that 53 performers are working up a sweat playing while you relax! The fact that this is a double CD is a bonus in these circumstances... as once you've tasted Kepa Junkera you'll want a second helping.

There's very little on the beat thumping rhythm, four to the floor style, which is very refreshing, the tempo rises and falls, a pretty song here and funky jazz folk latin fusion thang there (Zugarramurdi Dantza)., a reel after that, moments later a Fandango transported to an African village (Santimanineka Fandangoa & ioaeoe). The decidedly world music track (Justin Lagun) is a surprising break from the accordion, sending us to Madagascar and the Andes via Anboto.

All titles on the CD are poetically explained in Euskera, Castellano French and English. And the beautifully crafted packaging contains photography and script encapsulating many features of the Basque culture from which this masterpiece has sprung. Eskerrik asko Kepa, gehiago mezedez!

This is an aural orgasm, bai bai bai!.