Ojos de Brujo Releases Smoking DVD, Touring Bari

New York, USA – Spain’s acclaimed Ojos de Brujo (“Eyes of the Wizard”) brings their potent “hiphop flamenco” hybrid to DVD for the first time with Touring Bari. In 2004, the Barcelona-based collective began a grassroots campaign to conquer North American audiences with the release of their US debut, Bari.

While that album’s incandescent mashup of flamenco, hiphop, rock, and rumba catalana made the group a critical favorite and an indie radio hit-even cracking Billboard’s World Music Top 15 – the group always knew that touring and playing live were the keys to really connecting with American audiences. “Making records in the studio is only part of the equation,” says percussionist Xavi Turull, “but getting onstage and playing directly for people, communicating directly, is the most important thing. When we knock someone out with a live performance, they remember that for the rest of their life – and they tell their friends. That’s how our audience has grown.” And Ojos have taken that one-fan-at-a-time approach to both the United States and the world, with nearly non-stop international touring since the release of Bari – including some high-profile gigs at Central Park Summerstage in New York and the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco. The multimedia-savvy group made sure that cameras were rolling at every show, collecting enough live (and behind-the-scenes) footage for Touring Bari. The 210-minute DVD includes both a live concert and a 61 minute documentary about Ojos called Touring the Beat.

Part 1 of Touring Bari is known as The Concert, Recorded in November, 2004, the concert captures
Ojos de Brujo in front of a hometown crowd at Barcelona’s Razzmatazz venue. And the band is at their best: furious gypsy guitars courtesy of Ramón Giménez and Paco Lomena, fiery and complex hand-percussion from Xavi Turull, Max Wright and Sergio Ramos, DJ Panko’s explosive turntable scratching and subtle electronic tweakings, and the passionate, full-throated cry of lead singer Marina “La Canillas” Abad.

Part 2 of Touring Bari is Touring the Beat. This behind-the-scenes footage catches Ojos de Brujo at work both on tour and at home throughout 2003 – 2004: cataloging their tours, gigs, recording sessions and activist philosophy. Directed by Andre Cruz, the documentary offers up an extraordinary glimpse of Ojos de Brujo performing for their fans in such far-flung locales as the U.S., Morocco and Colombia – and offers a candid look at the their creative process and the controlled chaos of mounting a major tour.

Touring Bari also includes some extra Ojos de Brujo wizardry, including several of the group’s innovative videos, such as “Ley de gravedad,” “Tiempo de solea” and “Quien engana no gana” – all produced by La Fábrica de Colores, their own in-house multimedia team.

Ojos deBrujo have two U.S. CD releases on World Village/Harmonia Mundi USA, Bari released in 2004 and Remixes from Bari released in January 2005. There is an additional CD available as an import, Vengue.

Buy Touring Bari