It’s often very easy to overlook other music forms than the ones
\nwe hear where we live. Many people in America know of only rock,
\ncountry, blues, rap, new age, ad nauseam. But when it comes to
\nmusic from other lands and other cultures, many of us draw a
\nblank.<\/p>\n
I myself am not very knowledgeable about music from other
\ncountries – basically, my feeling is that I know what I like when I
\nhear it. I’ve loved the Gipsy Kings for years, and I really fell
\nfor music from Nepal a few weeks ago courtesy of Sur Sudha.<\/p>\n
Today’s lesson comes from Chicago’s Ensemble Kalinda, a group
\nwhose goal is to preserve the music of the West Indies and to share
\nits heritage with everyone. Their disc
\n\u00a1Kalinda Kaliente!<\/i> is an incredible sampler of
\ndifferent styles with different flavors – and I defy anyone to not
\nfind something on this disc they like.<\/p>\n
Led by musical director Miguel Rivera (who also plays bass on
\nthe album), Ensemble Kalinda create music which is infectious and
\naddictive; more than once you’ll find yourself wanting to get up
\nand dance to the joyous noise that bursts forth from your speakers.
\nEven if you don’t understand one word they’re saying (only one cut
\nis performed in English), you can’t escape feeling the joy in the
\nmusic – and that’s the key to music’s universal language.<\/p>\n
Puerto Rico’s music is especially well-represented here, with
\ntwo numbers causing more than just light foot-tapping here in the
\nPierce Archives. “Maquinolandera” and “Kara ka tis ki” are joyous
\nuptempo numbers that could cause sudden bouts of dancing in the
\nvicinity of your speakers. (As further education, the group kindly
\ndetails what kind of song each is – even the example of a
\nbolero<\/i> is hauntingly beautiful.)<\/p>\n
Of all the West Indies countries, Cuba is the most represented
\non this disc with four selections. Of these, easily my favorite is
\n“Chachacha,” a song which at first I was not looking forward to.
\nBut its subtle beat and incredible musicianship will etch this song
\nin your head – I’ve been humming it non-stop since I first listened
\nto this disc.<\/p>\n
Whether it is the calypso beat of Trinidad (“Congo malata”), the
\nseductive draw of the samba (“Berimbau”) or the threatening but
\ncurious tones from Haiti (“Kili bois”),
\n\u00a1Kalinda Kaliente!<\/i> takes all its influences and offers
\nthem to the listener to pick and choose as they please. Sometimes,
\nit’s hard to decide which track to listen to next.<\/p>\n
The only “mistake” to my ears was a medley of three
\nmento<\/i> numbers and one
\nreggae<\/i> song from Jamaica – never mind the fact I love
\nreggae. For some reason, the inclusion of a song in English just
\nseems to break the spell of the rest of the disc – a type of
\nmystique, if you will. Still, this is a minor complaint against an
\notherwise great disc.<\/p>\n
What’s sad about this disc is that many people most likely will
\nbe afraid to pick it up and give it a spin or two – we tend to back
\naway from that which we do not know. What would be cool to me is if
\nsome schools gave this album a chance in their music programs – I
\ncan’t wait to see what my 22-month-old does when I play this disc
\nfor her. If the adults refuse to see what’s in front of their
\nnoses, then at least the kids could experience the sheer joy of
\nthese 14 songs.<\/p>\n
C’mon, don’t be afraid. Get up and
\ndance<\/i>, man! –
\n\u00a1Kalinda Kaliente!<\/i> only asks that you approach it with
\nan open mind and a willingness to let yourself be controlled by the
\nbeat. Not a lot to ask for 50 minutes of sheer joy. Here’s hoping
\nthat Ensemble Kalinda gets a nod for a Grammy in the world music
\ncategory in 1999.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7317],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38810","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ensemble-kalinda","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38810","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38810"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38810"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}