|
|
 |
CD Review
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Sing Out!, CD Review >>
Asphalt Tango continue their series resurrecting vintage music with this excellent collection of tracks by Romanian singer Romica Puceanu. There's a raw, plaintive quality to her mahala voice that has echoes of the blues, but also the passion you can find in klezmer. It's Gypsy music, superbly performed with true Lautari (Romanian Gypsy) soul, the tracks taken from 1964 (when Puceanu made her studio debut at the age of 38, although she'd been singing professionally for 24 years by then) to 1973 (she died in 1996 in a car crash on her way home from a gig). Working with the Gore Brothers, the cream of the wedding bands, was a perfect melding of minds and styles. Victor Gore (accordion and vocals) and his brother, Aurel, were both virtuoso musicians, and their band could match them note for note with breathtaking ability (just listen to cimbalom player Marin Marangos, for example), and also the will to hold back and just let Puceanu sing, as on "Unde O Fi Puilul De Aseara." Blessed with gorgeous range and tone, it's no surprise she was the grande dame of the mahala. When her voice aches, you weep, and when it soars, you fly with her. The age of the music doesn't matter; this is another case where the sheer quality demands that it be heard. 01/05/07
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
