Say one thing for Quetzal; they have themselves some ideals, and
\nthey’re not compromising them for anyone. This nine-member band
\nfrom Los Angeles combines Mexican, Caribbean, and rock sounds into
\na seamless fusion that they use to make serious points “for
\ndignity, for family, for community, strength from culture, and
\npositive female roles in society”.<\/p>\n
OK, it all sounds good on paper — or in this case, on Vanguard
\nRecords’ website.
\nSing The Real<\/i> is, by the band’s own admission, a testimony
\nto the current-day, where cultural and political boundaries are
\n“melting away at a fast pace”.<\/p>\n
I can hear you all now. “Fine, Duke, but are they any damned
\ngood?”<\/p>\n
The answer is — yeah. Yeah, they are.<\/p>\n
Quetzal is musical chiles. The first bite may shock you a
\nlittle, but give yourself some time and you’ll be poppin’ chipotle
\nlike it was candy. For all their heavy content and serious purpose
\n(so serious, in fact, many band members teach in LA’s public
\nschools), Quetzal does themselves proud on this, their second
\nrecording.
\nSing The Real<\/i> is infectious, melodic, and impeccably
\nperformed; the twin lead vocals of Martha and Gabriel Gonzalez are
\nexpressive, heartfelt, and genuine. No sanitized pseudo-Latino pop
\nhere; this is like a shot of great tequila, heady and intense.
\nSpecial note also has to be made of the Brazilian and Latin
\npercussion and vibraphone playing of Edson Gianesi and the
\nbreathtaking electric violin work of Rocio Marron — but the truth
\nis, there isn’t a badly played note on this CD.<\/p>\n
Some of the great tracks include the haunting and
\nthought-provoking “20 Pesos”, the jazz-like riffs on “Emotions”,
\nthe magnificent string work on “Vagabundo”, and the bright and
\nvibrant “Jarocho Elegua”. I admit, it’s tough sometimes to handle
\nQuetzal’s fusion of styles; they borrow from multiple cultures,
\nsounds, and styles — but in the end, they make it all work, and
\nthat’s what matters. It does take some patience to get to the
\ncenter, but once you do, it’s a beautiful tapestry.<\/p>\n
\nSing The Real<\/i> is, indeed, real. Check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6794],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37506","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-quetzal","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37506"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37506"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}