Rating:
Genre:
Latin
Release Date: 05/06/2003
Tonino Baliardo, lead guitarist of
the Gipsy Kings from France, has made an attempt without the band to update the
rhumba flamenca sound from the south of France on his eponymously titled second album. Hanging with a number of
the Kings and the idiosyncratic postmodern production of
Gerard Prevost,
Baliardo's music is more firmly rooted than ever in his
traditional rhythms and melodies, it's just that with the popping of
Carlos Benavent's electric bass on
"Gitanito" and the electronic programming on
"Rumba Caliente" and
"Cosso," or even the Hammond B3 by
Bolsadan on
"Redemption," culture shock of the new is imprinted everywhere on the recording. Yet, there is nothing revisionist about the music -- not even remotely. The new instrumentation creates different ambiences and textures, but musically the steam of the tradition percolates everywhere from this CD. Other notables are the
ballads, such as
"Cynthia," and the
Django Reinhardt-meets-
Cuban son "Recuerdo Apasionado" that closes the set. This is a fine outing; it offers a deeper, wider view of
rhumba flamenca in the context of a new millennium and a new kind of
traditionalism.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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