ALBUM REVIEW: Santiago

RCA Victor/BMG, 1996 | 09026-68602-2

By Manuel Carro

I have seen a certain interest in the latest Chieftains' work, named "Santiago", and in which some traditional Galician music is arranged and performed. The album features some very valuable guests: the Galician bagpiper Carlos Nu~nez (a Chieftains' old friend), the outstanding Basque trikitixa (Basque diatonic accordion) player Kepa Junkera, the Asturian rabel (a sort of primitive fiddle's cousin) and bagpipe player Xuacu Amieva and the Portuguese cavaquinho (a sort of Portuguese mandolin; I am not certain about the precise differences) player Julio Pereira.

I must say that this review is harder than others I have seen, but I also have to say that I am concerned about the "Galicianness" of the record, and not about the record itself. First of all, I have neither personal nor professional affiliation with the performers, the producer, or the record company, and I have nothing personal against them. I have very much enjoyed precious musical gems they have produced throughout their careers, and I expect to do so again in the future. This comment is about *this* particular record.

When I was told the CD was out, I rushed to the music store and bought it, with great illusion, which turned into deception. What most disappointed me is that many people might end up with an erroneous view of how traditional Galician music is and how it is commonly interpreted. The notes in the inlay card (at least in the Spanish edition) certainly do not help a lot in placing each song/tune in context; even more, in some cases they sounded confusing to me. For those of you who have it, one of the latest works of Liam O'Flynn ("The Given Note", I think) has a couple of tracks with Galician themes which, for me, are certainly closer to a good interpretation. In any case, the Chieftains' CD might be worthwhile if you are a Chieftains fan, or if you just want to have a taste of Galician music.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd tracks feature Julio Pereira and Kepa Junkera playing txalaparta (an ancient Basque instrument made of wooden logs which are hit with other, shorter, logs); then Kepa plays a beautiful Basque dance (Arku Dantza) and an Arin-Arin (literally, I believe, "fast-fast") on the trikitixa. The 3rd track is Xuacu Amieva singing and playing rabel, and the 4th is Julio Pereira on cavaquinho. In track number 5, a choir sings a couple of Middle Age anthems related to Santiago's Cathedral. I would say that tracks 1 to 5 (grouped together under the name of "Camino de Santiago") is the best part of the CD.

Track 6 (Dueling chanters) is very probably a show off on stage (just look at the title...), very effective in a live performance (I have seen Carlos Nu~nez playing, and he is really amazing). Unlike what the notes read, no Galician would take the jig they play as a Mui~neira, nor I think any Irish musician would accept the "Polca de Vilagarcia" as a reel.

I did not dislike "Galician Overture" (track 7), mainly because it is not, and it is not claimed to be, a traditional piece. Sure it is not any of Beethoven's overtures, but it is not expected to be either.

In track 8, Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos try to sing a Galician theme quite unsuccessfully. It is not only that they mix Galician and Spanish (not only in different verses: they use words in both languages even in the same sentence, and this sounds _awful_ to my ears) but also that their personal interpretation is completely different from what is supposed to be a Galician song. Sure they are not supposed to know it, but the producer should have taken care of it. Alas, the producer is Paddy Moloney... sorry about this, folks, but I just cannot stand this track. I always skip it.

Track 9 (Mi~no Waltz) is OK as a virtuoso piece (as the CD notes seem to admit), but it retains, once again, very little of any Galician spirit. It certainly does not remind me of the Mi~no river, and, well, it simply does not sound as melodic as a Galician waltz should.

Track 10 (Setting Sail / Mui~neira de Freixido) is a 10 years old arrangement made for the movie "The Treasure Island". The beautiful, well-known, Mui~neira de Freixido lacks one of its parts (precisely the one which sounds more "Galician"). Carlos Nu~nez usually omits this part.

Track 11 (Maneo) is "the piece with most Spanish flavor"... something like that is written on the CD inlay card. That's because the Flamenco style used in the guitar and in the clapping (I guess that this is what "Spanish flavor" refers to) has nothing to do with Galician folklore. Guitar has _never_ been used in Galician folklore, neither the clapping style in this track has been. By the way, "Maneo" is the name of a type of songs, and not the name of this particular one, and they are intended to be sang, not turned into instrumental pieces.

I wonder what track 12 is doing here. Resorting to the "emigration", the Chieftains insert a Cuban song into the record. They did something along this lines before: the country piece "Cotton-Eyed Joe" appears in one of their works as an offspring of an Irish piece. In this particular case, I sincerely wonder which Galician song "Santiago de Cuba" comes from. Of course, there might be a connecting line which I fail to see, and I might be plain wrong.

Track 13 is a nonsense. I have heard this song many, many times before, and neither the lyrics nor the rhythm have a point in common with the original, popular, Galician setting.

"Non te namores, meni~na" (track 15) is another classical tune, both in Galician folklore and in Carlos Nu~nez's repertoire. The arrange they play here reminds me of one played by Milladoiro several years ago. Regrettably, this performance lacks a great amount of the charm I have heard in others.

The last track, recorded live in a pub in Vigo, Galicia, has some good points. The first fragment (the first bars of the "Alborada de Veiga") is, despite its beauty, almost unanimously regarded as the alborada with less popular spirit (it was composed by Pascual Veiga for an orchestra). By the way, the piece falls outside the range of the Galician bagpipe; Carlos Nu~nez stops in time. After this, all the people in the pub sing a is popular song, but its intrinsic quality falls within the same range as that of "ten bottles of wine on the wall, take one down...". On the other side, in the following song, Wenceslao Cabezas tambourine playing (he is usually named as the best Galician tambourine playing) and singing is, for my taste, very remarkable. The two last pieces are very well known mui~neiras.

That's all. A little bit of disappointment because of the selection, some more disappointment because of the treatment, and some more disappointment because of the general spirit of the CD makes me feel its only usefulness is as an example of how not to do things.