The Library CD Music Shelf
Cuban Traditional Music
Tito y Son de Cuba
San Pablo Recorders
1627 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley CA 94702
No ISBN, CD, $10.98
Several months ago my wife and a friend went on a cruise around the
San Francisco Bay: she came back raving about a Cuban band that kept
them dancing throughout the cruise. When the same band played a gig at
Osher Marin a few weeks ago, "we" had to go. The band, Tito y Su Son
De Cuba, was as good as she said it was. Bandleader Herberto "Tito"
Gonzalez is a relatively recent arrival (2000) from Cuba, where he
took lessons from and played with the cream of Cuba's dance and jazz
musicians. His music is closer to the sounds Americans heard in the
film and on the cd Buena Vista Social Club than it is to New York
salsa, but some salsa influence is in evidence. This is logical, since
Tito is younger than the oldest of the "Buena Vista" gang, the salsa
sound has now entered Cuba. Tito sings in a style reminiscent of Cuban
singers of the 1930s, 40s and 50s: not with a pretty voice, but with
an authoritative voice. Tito also plays tres: a three-stringed guitar-
like instrument similar in size to a ukelele. He picks a mean solo as
well as setting a rhythmic pace. As exciting as Tito and his eight-
piece group are live, on his cd TITO Y SU SON DE CUBA he has an even
fuller sound due to the addition of as many as ten extra musicians and
singers, all with years of experience playing Cuban music and salsa.
If you want the best in rhumba, guarrcha and especially son (the chief
while you're there, pick up his delightful cd. If you can't catch Tito
in person, get a copy of this cd and dance at home!
Cuilidh
Julie Fowlis
Shoeshine Records/Cadiz Music
c/o Rock Paper Scissors
511 West 4th Street, Suite 2, Bloomington, IN 47404
www.juliefowlis.com
SPIT032, $17.98, www.shoeshine.co.uk
Julie Fowlis is a dedicated Gaelic singer whose researches and
performances have brought Gaelic music to the forefront of
appreciative European and American audiences. "Cuilidh" is her newest
contribution to a steadily increasing body of work and ranges from
lighthearted mouth music to serious ballads chronicling life and loss
on the rugged Outer Hebrides island and its surrounding sea. Her
hauntingly beautiful performances of twelve distinctive, historically
authentic, beautifully sculptured songs in the Gaelic language are
flawlessly recorded, making "Cuilidh" a welcome and enthusiastically
recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library CD
music collections.
A Traveler's Guide To Mars
Ian Tescee
Privately Produced
c/o The Creative Service Company
4360 Emerald Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80918
ITC-21232, $15.99, www.musicphrenia.com www.iantescee.com
Ian Tescee draws upon his more than twenty-two years of experience and
expertise with creating electronic music to compose and perform "A
Traveler's Guide To Mars", a collection of fourteen original and
unique works inspired by space scientist William K. Hartman and
utilized in the major planetarium production about Mars at the
Carnegie Science Center's Duhl Digital Dome in Pittsburgh. Tescee
utilizes keyboard synthesizers and electronic drums, analog guitars,
and even sings on one of the tracks. Enhanced with a half-dozen NASA
commands and a countdown, a cello solo by Nancy Snustad, the faint
quoting of a line from the Ray Bradbury short story 'The Lost City of
Mars', "A Traveler's Guide To Mars" also features music written by
electronic musician Russell Story, and 'The Wooden Prince' based on a
theme by Bela Bartok. The individual pieces comprising this flawlessly
produced and highly recommended CD include The New World (5:27);
Passport (6:01); Earthrise (4:01); The Lost City of Mars (4:16);
Aquamarine (3:43); The Wooden Prince (2:24); Dust-Red Sky (2:02); God
of War (2:42); Beneath the Ice (2:09); It's Time to Go Back: Part 1
(2:48); It's Time to Go Back: Part 2 (3:54); Space Tourist Mars
(5:23); Life on Mars (4:50); Billions and Billions of Stars (3:54).
Tibetan Chants for World Peace
The Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir
White Swan Records
6395 Gunpark Dr. Ste. A, Boulder, CO 80301
Rock Paper Scissors (publicity)
511 West 4th Street, Suite 2, Bloomington, IN 47404
$16.98 www.whiteswanrecords.com www.rockpaperscissors.biz
Tibetan Chants for World Peace is an audio CD of transcendent Tibetan
Buddhist chants, some of which have never before been heard outside of
Gyuto Tantric Monastic University until the twenty-first century. The
Gyuto monks perform low-pitched throat singing that supplicates for
the well-being of all life on Earth. No monk is permitted to perform
these chants until he has undergone extensive initiation, empowerment,
and training over the course of many years. A one-of-a-kind audio
encapsulation of the music wholly dedicated to spreading mercy and
love to the world, Tibetan Chants for World Peace carries the absolute
highest recommendation for public library CD collections and for
Buddhist studies shelves. A fold-out insert with photographs of the
monks and information about the chants is included, and all royalties
for the sale of Tibetan Chants for World Peace go to Gyuto Tantric
University.
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