Dig These Discs :: Madera Limpia, Genticorum, Dinky
We’ve got a world music buffet ranging from Cuba to Quebec to Berlin! In this buffet, everyone will want seconds on the Quebecois delights, I’m sure!
La Corona
Cuba’s Madera Limpia has a new CD La Corona, full of sounds that transport you across the world to balmy Cuba. This is all the more welcome given the harsh winter we’re all enduring. Mixing a number of styles and instruments including rap, horn instrumentations, and other sounds of the Caribbean and Central America. Initial track "En La Esquina" sets the mood with an adequately laid back vibe, while never going limp with its invigorating beats and sounds. Towards the end of the disc Madera Limpia mixes some more familiar and traditional music with new, electronic beats and effects, creating an interesting bridge between past and future, a common theme in everyday life for Cubans.
La Bibournoise
And for the top choice of the week, from quebecois Genticorum, is La Bibournoise. The disc is ripe with gorgeous harmonies, both instrumental and vocal. The voice is on full display in the title track with an a cappella number backed up by perfect rhythmic clapping. The sixth track, "Hommage ŕ André Alain" is the longest song on the cd and earns every bit of it’s nearly eight minute run! It builds perfectly, pausing at each stage just long enough to let you savor the sound without ever boring. Genticorum is a special group with a wonderful ambience to their sound.
May Be Later
In the repetitive world of techno, new age music, Dinky manages to salvage some of her sounds but much of the work is prey to the usual pitfalls. The first two tracks "Mi Amor" and "Mars Cello" are a good openers, avoiding utter monotony with offerings of certain, undistinguishable electronic vocals and a warm mellow energies. But once you’re into the thick of the disc, it begins to feel like so many artists of a similar brand. You sometimes want to remind Dinky that just adding more sounds doesn’t mean the music is automatically dynamic. Thankfully she does find more textured rhythms eventually on "Sunday Set" which helps to wake the listener a bit.
