Cantigas de Mulleres
Various Artists
Cantigas de Mulleres (Fol Musica, 2012)
This compilation presents some of the best female talent in the Galician music scene. Galicia is a region in northwestern Spain that is part of the Celtic music world, with a rich traditional of female singers and percussionists. Cantigas de Mulleres spans various musical genres, from Galician folk to light jazz and bossa nova-infused pop, featuring female performers, songwriters and composers.
Highlights of Cantigas de Mulleres include Galician folk-rooted world music instrumentalist and innovator Mercedes Peon; the fascinating folk orchestra Sondeseu from the Vigo School of Folk and Traditional Music; the female-fronted vocal and percussion contemporary folk group Leilia; extraordinary piper Susana Seivane who was born in a family of renowned bagpipe makers; the 86-year old vocalist Señora Carmen, a member of folk group Malvela; the magical Medieval-influenced contemporary folk of Doa, featuring the beautiful soprano voice of Susana de Lourenzo; the hypnotic and dreamy Galician folk-rooted blend of acoustic traditional, psychedelic and electronica by Mónica De Nut and her trio; contemporary folk band Fía Na Roca featuring Sonia Lebedensky, the young vocalist included in the album; and female-fronted folk band Malvela, featuring a mix of traditional voices with modern elements.
“We have earned a visibility that we hadn’t had for years and managed to reach a wide range of female audience of all ages,” says vocalist Uxia, the artistic producer the album, in the liner notes. “A lot of the people who come to our shows are women who understand what other women sing, who identify with the lyrics of our compositions, and discover their own voices while listening.
There are many of us women composers, not just performers. We are not only voices transmitting what others write … there are more female authors everyday: creating lyrics and melody that define and vindicate us; voices loud enough to deafen against silence, singing ballads woven with our emotions.
We are plural women, different among ourselves, with our own registers and intense and passionate mise-en-scènes, reinventing and updating ourselves in sonority, in the necessary complicity between Galician female singers. The voice of girlfriends.
We also feel the urge to demystify, break taboos and portray a renewed vision of women, outside of the eternal cliché, avoiding obsolete stereotypes.
That’s the way we sing…. a true driving force, Sun-Women who don’t step aside, not afraid to speak our minds, who don’t sing only about birds and flowers. We do “cantigas” in our language, and we take care of our language and the rich heritage of the songs of our grandmothers, tambourine in hand.
Morganas who scream loudly or softly whisper a lullaby, women who know that the 21st century revolution is ours, when we will show our colors and the strong and powerful singing of the women of this country, who also has a female name, will resonate everywhere.”
The album comes in a trilingual edition in Galician, Spanish and English, with a total of 17 songs.
Track List:
1 – Uxía – As Nosas Cores
2 – Guadi Galego – Madama
3 – Marful – Tris Tras
4 – Sés – Fala de Mel
5 – Mercedes Peon – Derorán
6 – Ialma – 6 AM
7 – Rosa Cedrón And Cristina Pato – Mirabella
8 – Sondeseu – Espadelada de Penosiños
9 – Leilía – Voz das Amigas
10 – Susana Seivane – Xoaniña
11 – Lobalú – Cantar 22
12 – Señora Carmen – Rosiña do mes de Maio
13 – Doa – Levousa Fremousa
14 – Maria Manuela – Ven que te levo
15 – Mónica de Nut – Por que hei de cantare
16 – Fía Na Roca – Noite Negra
17 – Malvela – Pola Rúa de San Pedro
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
