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  Tejedor
Llunaticos (Aris Música/Resistencia, 2003)
Although half of my family can claim Spanish ancestry, I have only known about
Spain's Celtic tradition for the past two years (Galicia & Asturias). However,
until very recently I was unaware of Asturias' Celtic music scene which includes
pop star Hevia (inventor of the electronic bagpipes), Llan de Cubel, Felpeyu,
Asturian Mining Company (led by an American expatriate) and Tejedor. Tejedor,
comprised of two brothers, José Manuel and Javier Tejedor and their younger
sister, Eva have one eye on tradition and the other one on contemporary
arrangements.
Most of the songs that appear on Llunàticos (lunatics) were composed by Javier
and José, but with a Celtic folk-roots flavor. The trio employs an array of
Celtic musicians and a vast collection of traditional instruments that are
augmented by electric instruments at times. The opener, a tongue and cheek
instrumental, Hell Bagpipes, brings in a host of musicians including, Igor Medio
(bouzouki, guitar), Horacio Garcia (bass guitar), Fernando Arias (drums), Ramón
Morán and César Ibarretxe (keyboards), Merce Santos (hurdy-gurdy), Xabier
Zeberio (nickelharpa) and Ibón Koterón (alboka). José contributes bagpipes and
Javier adds accordion and percussion. The result is anything, but hellish and a
fan of Celtic music could describe it as heavenly.
Three ballads Married Woman, Swallow and Maruxina feature Eva on vocals. She
also contributes pandereta and tambourine on Maruxina, a song about a maiden
with dubious sexuality. Married Woman and Swallow flow in a lyrical fashion and
are embellished with acoustic guitar, flute and other Celtic instruments.
Maruxina begins with a cappella vocals set over drums & percussion and
eventually guitar, bouzouki, bagpipes and accordion join into the traditional
song's quick tempo. The song also provides some unusual music twists that match
the duplicitous nature of the song's titular character.
While I do not have time to comment on all 12 tracks that appear on the
recording, most of the songs fall into the instrumental category. The titular
track marries Celtic music with electronic dance while, the slow instrumental
lament, In the Memory features misty-eyed bagpipes along with violin, double
bass and keyboards. The melancholy instrumental Etna blends flute and low
whistles with a string quartet. And Floreo of Remis (written by José Remis
Ovalle), allows José Manuel Tejedor to showoff his bagpipe virtuosity as he
sails through quick tempoarpeggios and leaves listeners begging for more.
Llunàticos showcases a remarkable trio with lots of youth appeal and passion for
roots-music. I wonder what this group will do next and I look forward to future
recordings.
For more information about the group click
here. Buy Llunaticos.
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