Los
Jardineros— The Best of Los Jardineros
Yazo Records
Reviewed
by Peter Aaron
This
anthology comprises the triumphant sounds of those ageold traditions
finally making it to wax thanks to the still relatively technology
of audio recording. Here’s the real-folk deal, native plenas,
danzas, boleros, decimas, and aguinaldos, as well as several fascinating
pieces that show the influences of American, South American, and
Cuban pop and dance styles. And these 23 buoyant, torrid feet-movers
just about boil over with revved-up, impossibly locomotive string
runs, their itchy rhythms driven by maracas and guiro (a notched,
hollow gourd played with a scraping stick).
The
thick accompanying booklet includes notes by Ruth Glasser
(author of the definitive genre study, My Music is My Flag) and
translations of the original Spanish lyrics. The highly emphatic
singers here sound like they have something they really need to
tell us—whether it’s to recommend a lady friend that
makes the best coffee in town (“Café Colao [Strained
Coffee]”) or just to let loose with some macho posturing (“Se
La Voy A Decoser [I’m Going to Rip It Up]”). But the
strangest piece has to be “Jala La Cadena (Pull the Toilet’s
Chain),” about the need to flush one’s toilet to avoid
“poisoning” the house: “You must be very careful
/ to avoid eating eggplant / so as not to spend the day / right
beside the chain.” Yes, weird. But definitely good weird.
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