“Amor y Felicidad” busts out raw and upbeat with a wah-wah keyboard. A deep Latin funk vibe drops with break beat drums and scratch effects punctuated by conga fills and piano montuno. Hitting hard and fast it’s a modern Brooklyn juxtaposition of hip hop and Cuban rumba! The optimistic chorus translates as “love and happiness, come what may.” This affirmation is one of the underlying currents throughout the album. “Negative energy can be thwarted by the decision to respond to adversity with love,” explains Cónde.

“Matapalo Matamusa” kicks in a down-tempo Parliament-Funkadelic vibe, with old-school synth warbles and boogie bass lines. Tight, catchy choruses and good-time harmonies build the energy. Added to the mix are nasty Nawlins trombone blasts courtesy of Big Sam Williams. Cónde sings this one hauntingly, low and spooky, delivering the intricately rhythmic lyrics in relaxed tones. Using the metaphor of the ‘matapalo’ strangler fig tree found in the tropics of Central America, Cónde urges the listener to cut the crippling, asphyxiating tendrils of self-doubt, depression, and negative energy that can strangle the creative muse. The knife is made of faith and it removes and cleanses away these insidious forces as they attempt to take root in your very being and destroy you, as the ‘matapalo tree destroys its host.

In the next ditty Cónde takes a sharp turn towards the whimsical in a weird fusion of punk, reggaeton, and Bo Diddley- esque rockabilly. It’s a humourous anthem about his big headed dog (Gordito Cabezon) and a crowd favorite at live shows where throngs sing along to the chorus and mosh it up on the dance floor. Cónde sings about his dog who is simple and sincere, but manipulates his owner with intense sad eyes and wags his tail when he hears this song, which he of course knows is for him.

The dog barks and cuicas fade away. A slow ethereal plucking guitar trio washes in a mellow acoustic vibe on the epic fourth track.  “Gota de Felicidad” slowly morphs into a cosmic-reggae skank, weaving between dubby drums and a phat melodious bass. Cónde achieves a Zen-like introspective calm with somewhat autobiographical lyrics about the symbioses of yin and yang. “A heart that hasn’t been broken, never will comprehend, the value of just one drop, of happiness,” say the lyrics.

The next few tracks are stripped down bare and naked. “El Vestido” is a lusty tango which seductively compares a dress on his lady to an upside down flower with “hidden nectar” underneath. This smoldering rendition is set spinning acoustically by accordion, piano, contra bass, and Cónde’s purposely melo-dramatic tenor.

Continuing in a moody, slightly melancholic vein, “El Avion” percolates with acoustic guitar in a deconstructed reggae skank, picking up the pace, with washes of organ and a lonesome cowboy lead guitar setting the mood. Cónde expresses a surreal feeling of longing and heartbreak amidst the alienating hustle and bustle of the crowded New York streets.

On the mellower tracks on this album, there is a feeling of beauty and mystery amid melancholy. This intangible bittersweet quality reaches its zenith with “El Manantial” (“The Wellspring”). It is a river song, where the river’s source is compared to the source of “pure and natural love” and where the river remains flowing under all life, even when the lovers, like the river, are divided.  This sinuous acoustic guitar driven bolero is complemented by Cónde’s wistful vocal delivery and subtle tinges of West and North Africa supplied by a flowing and constant Moroccan frame drum and special guest Baye Kouyate’s bubbling talking drum from Mali.

Next Gintas Janusonis’ drums come in strong in a tale of nature’s power. “Silenciosa Maravilla” is dedicated to the ‘silent miracle’ of the moment or spark of germination of the seeds of hardwood trees in the nurseries which fuel reforestation efforts in Costa Rica, where Cónde spends time every year. It is a musical mirror of time-lapse photography and parallels the wondrous feeling of seeing the large seeds of tall majestic trees germinate in a magical scene “when all the seedlings look like ballerinas reaching up for the light.”

In the lush jazzy-funky samba “Mabel,” nature is again evoked when a beauty’s “dark skin, like a caramel beach, saves a castaway lost at sea.” Inspired by the curative effects of a beautiful Brazilian woman dancing in a New York club in a Rio style, with summery backing vocals and oceanside references, this breezy number conjures the mellow sensuousness of Brazil.

On “Elefante En Hotel” Cónde takes Peruvian flavors back to Africa and adds spectral tremolo electric guitar and marimba sounds to create a floating sensation that hovers above a rolling beat, like the ambling gait of the elephant searching for mangoes mentioned in the song. Inspired by a photo in National Geographic of an elephant entering a hotel in Zambia, Cónde takes a snap shot image that at first may seem surreal and absurd and instead turns it on its head to point out that the elephant was just following its natural seasonal migratory pattern to its habitual feeding ground in the Luangwa valley where humans had just built a hotel the year before, right “over his kitchen table.”

“Mujer” (“Woman”) is a funky down-tempo Beatles-esque blues-rock ode to the feminine—to women, and to mother Earth. Cónde addresses her as a mother, a child, a sister, and a lover because she is fertility and nurtures all life.

After an electro-remix of the tango track “El Vestido” by Eli Katz, we travel to South Africa for “Wamina Munghana” (“My Friend” in the Tsonga language). The childlike simplicity, upbeat melody is paired with bright instrumentation in a South African mode. Cónde was inspired by the people of Makuleke Village in South Africa and the projects carried out there by the Sharing To Learn non-profit organization which has built the first two libraries in the area in a mission to help empower the poor through education. By sending digital recorders back and forth from Brooklyn to Makuleke, the villagers collaborated with lyrics and some vocals for this song. Cónde added loops and touches of ambient sounds from the town, like a herd of cows with bells, crickets, and kids performing singing games in the street, as well as verses about friendship by Cuban poet José Martí. The song is topped off with some droning “Cuban throat singing” (as opposed to Tuvan), performed by Cónde, simultaneously exotic and familiar. Proceeds from purchasing the song from www.sharingtolearn.bandcamp.com go towards helping the foundation achieve its goals.

The album finishes up with a couple of bonus tracks: a Portuguese language version of “Mabel” and an English version of “Mujer,” showing Cónde’s musical versatility; convincingly singing in many different languages.

Additional Info
The Sound of Songwriter José Cónde: Just Jose Conde
About the Songs: Jose Conde

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