40 Best of Flutes and Songs from the Andes (ARC MUSIC EUCD 2509)
As always with ARC, the recording is wonderful. Listeners will definitely come away with greater appreciation for the resonance and versatility of Andean flutes in combination with simple percussion and string instruments.
There have been some fine Andean flute releases in recent years. It accelerates the imagination, drawing to mind crisp, clean air, beautiful, cloud-level views of the beginnings and progress of things and stimulus to the intellect. There may not be obvious happiness to some of the tunes, but there is always reason and rhythm and never hopelessness. If one is familiar with the form, that is what one expects from a two-disc set titled as this one is. That’s not what this release is.
There are several tunes that do give that exact aural reward, but more that sound more Iberian than Andean. It’s bedrock Hispanic folk.
In the late 19th Century, an American ethnomusicologist traveled to the Gaelic backwaters of the British Isles to find the root songs of familiar Appalachian folk ballads. At the same time, a British ethnomusicologist traveled to Appalachia in search of isolated communities where the fading memories of Reformation-period ballads might still be strong. Apparently, villages in the Andes are places where some Native American instruments were long ago adapted to melodies imported in the minds of colonists; conquistadors’ near descendants and that is a treasure unique to that region today.
It is all interesting. Every cut is evocative of something historical and powerful. It is not wholly mystical.
Author: Arthur Shuey
Arthur has been reviewing music for publications since 1976 and began focusing almost exclusively on world music in 2012.
His musical background includes past presidencies of the Cape Fear Musicians Association and Blues Society of the Lower Cape Fear, founding membership in nine other blues societies, service on 17 music festival planning committees, two decades of teaching harmonica to individuals and groups, operating a small recording studio and performing solo and in combos for 30 years.
Arthur has written professionally since 1975, pieces ranging from short fiction to travel articles, humor to poetry, mainly for local and regional entertainment media. His blog,” Shuey’s World,” is featured at www.accesswilmington.com.
