There is something very enchanting about living in or just visiting New Mexico.  My parents are both from Albuquerque and we vacationed there at least yearly when I was a pup.  Just crossing the border from any direction and standing in the open air wakes up something deep within, to a mystery slumbering—waiting for that exact spark.  A friend and musician—Bill Mallonee of Vigilantes of Love—recently relocated to Santa Fe from Georgia, and is also loving his adopted state. When I discovered that AHAAH resides in New Mexico, I had to learn more about their music and bio.

While most of the songs on ’Cervantine’ have an intoxicatingly strong Eastern Europe sound, the song below, Espanola Kolo, has an old Spanish Gypsy meets Hungarian Folk sound.  The trumpets and accordion joyfully satisfy my eclectic musical palate.  Cervantine soars above the fray, and every unneeded sound, riff or instrument has been carefully cut away leaving intact only this celebratory masterstroke.        

AHAAH — Espanola Kolo

BIO: Started as a solo project in 2000 by accordionist and drummer Jeremy Barnes (formerly of indie rock legends Neutral Milk Hotel) and named after a line in Cervantes’ Don Quixote (hence the new album’s name), AHAAH became a duo in 2004 when Barnes met violinist Heather Trost. The pair began an adventure that took them to Budapest, Hungary where they lived for two years and met/toured with some of the country’s finest folk musicians, as well as countless US & European tours both on their own and with big names including Portishead, Calexico and fellow New Mexico resident Beirut (whose Gulag Orkestar album they were key collaborators on). Joined by an ever-expanding and contracting line-up of musicians, A Hawk and A Hacksaw seeks to create and document an ecstatic sound much like the village bands of old, with the communal aspect of folk tradition and musicianship the key factor.