Link to Living Tradition Homepage

REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk

 


 

 

 
Sleeve not available
XOSE MANUEL BUDINO 'Zume De Terra (Juce Of The Land)' DOFOL 34

On this his third album, he's assumed the role of composer, arranger, producer and recording engineer and acts "both as the compass and wind in the sails of this voyage". There are one or two moments on the album where I wondered if an outside producer would have laid a restraining hand on his shoulder, such as with the use of samples, which at times seem add little and in fact impede the effectiveness of certain tracks, and a spoken passage by Sara Tavares which is uncomfortably close sounding to the cod spoken words in 'Guantanamera' which Les Barker so mercilessly parodies.

Budino has certainly set his sights high as the stated intention is to produce "not just a CD of original music", but "in some ways" a "completely new concept in the approach to Galician music," and it's maybe this self-consciousness that at leads the work to occasionally strain. Only a curmudgeon, however, would seek to deny the high quality of the album for the vast majority of its' playtime from the celebratory 'Danza dos Anxinas' to the cheerily affirmative 'Meu Mar' with its' children's voices ending with what sounds like one of the kids sounding like he's been messing about with a helium filled balloon. There's the odd bit of whimsy such as this, but it's the Galician music itself that is the star, which is another of his intentions, as, quoting Alfonso Castelao, he agrees with the sentiment that, " This work of mine is no more than an artistic experiment, but, even if it were to be translated into every language in the world, it will always retain its' Galician identity because it is made from the juice of the land - ". And star it certainly is, at times wild and majestic and at others haunting and melancholy, but whatever, always splendidly able to stand up for itself.

Hector Christie

Secure On-line mailorder service
Buy this CD online from The Listening Post
The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine.
This album was reviewed in Issue 58 of The Living Tradition magazine.