Rumba Argelina
Authenticity is a tricky construct in pop music. InRumba Argelina, guitarist and composer Fain Dueñas, wind player Vincent Molino, and vocalist Benjamin Escoriza, the core of the Spanish group Radio Tarifa, blend traditional North African music, flamenco, and a dash of rhythms from the New World, most notably Cuba, with a contemporary pop sensibility. The results sound surprisingly organic--even when some of the mixes take disorienting turns. "Oye China" suggests asonorguajira--until an accordion and a mysterious wind instrument (bansuri?) come in. When the song turns again, however, it evokes avallenato. "Soledad" alludes to flamenco but also to Brian Eno. Then again, as Dueñas & Co. define it, this is border music, the music of an imaginary radio station in Tarifa, the southernmost point in Spain. What it suggests depends on your point of reference--but leave that for musicologists. Most important,Rumba Argelinais a delightful, rich, sensual experience, armchair traveling at its best. --Fernando Gonzalez