Son de Mi Tierra (“They are from my Land”) is a chirpy set of Mexican folk tunes, full of blustery nylon-string acoustic guitars and high harmonies. The album pairs an older generation of singers with more current rancher-musicians and the results hum. Start with the pitch-perfect shuffle of “Siquisirí.”
I bet most of us on emusic have done this: you're browsing around the site, when you stumble upon a record or type of music you wouldn't have picked up, if it was on Sale in the streets or stores, but that you personally like & find to be Interesting, or uplifting. How many of us remember finding Miriam Makeeba, IZ, or the low- Fi Jamican beats and downloading? Son de Madera IS such a record. These aren't the harsh Narco-Corredeos, Mexican rap & Hip Hop; they are the Country music of Mexico, Sometimes Plain, Usually Happy & Upbeat/Uptempo. I downloaded about half the album. It is enjoyable listening and will fit well in a playlist. Give them a listen.
It sound not like "los villanos" (the commoners it says, or I would say "the villains") but "los enanos" or "The dwarves" it is played in a unique reinterpretation including pianoforte or clavichord, quite a treat.
According to Harold Courlander, when the ethnomusicologist asked Folkways Records founder Moses Asch sometime in the mid 40s if he'd like to release field recordings Courlander had made in Haiti, Asch replied, "I'd be crazy not to." That decision led to Courlander and Asch collaborating on what would become the Ethnic Folkways Library, a voluminous catalog of international music Asch hoped would comprise nothing less than "an encyclopedia of world sound." In his handsomely illustrated and… more »
