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The Beat, Feature >>
One example of people movement in the end of the 15th century was the outflow of people from Spain after the ethnic and philosophical cleansing during the Spanish Inquisition. One family that fled to Algeria were the ancestors of grandmaster rai pianist Maurice El Medioni. He has produced fantastic cd with Cuban exile- and percussionist Roberto Rodriguez. Titled Descarga Oriental (Piranha), this release has been garnering mucho re spect here in various parts of the old and new Eu rope. The mix of Cuba and the Maghreb makes perfect sense musically as it fits together perfectly--raison? There have been rai-Latin mixes before like the pop salsa rai of Reina Rai a few years ago. But this is deeper and more creative, it is a quite fantas tic mixtip of the old world in a new world stylee. For example, "Ana Ouana" has stunning horns and whacked-out piano in the Eddie/Charlie Palmieri style of using the piano as a percussive instrument. On "Comme Tu As Change", the piano leads you on a journey, and the music layers up over lightly clattering clave percussion.
"C'etait II y A Longtemps" has a rai structure over pure Cuban riddims, they flux so well together by the heat of Maurice's piano. The vocals are in French: Spanish or French sounds equally as good with son and Cuban rhythms. But English does not seem work and always seems to jar when trying to do the same as the Romanic linguas with their flow ing words and patterns. A wonderful release, Descarga Oriental is one of those totally off-the-wall concepts that works and links together people, music and places. 06/01/06
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