Throughout the southern coast of Spain one can easily listen to popular North African music by tuning numerous Moroccan and Algerian radio stations across the strait of Gibraltar. Tarifa is the southernmost town in Europe from which you can see the African continent on any clear day and listen to the Moroccan muezzins at sundown calling for prayer.
Radio Tarifa was the brainchild of Faín Dueñas, a former electric guitarist who realized that playing Anglo-Saxon rock wasn’t leading him anywhere. Instead he sought new paths and learned about other kinds of music from foreign and southern Spanish musicians. He became a specialist in African and Arabic percussion as well as in string instruments from the lute family such as the Turkish cümbüs, the guimbri, sentir, ud and Flamenco guitar.
The rest of the core group was formed by the late Flamenco cantaor Benjamín Escoriza from Granada and reed/flute player Vincent Molino from France. The group’s albums feature numerous guests and the live band included some of Spain’s finest world music players.
Spanish folk and world music veteran, producer, painter and photographer Juan Alberto Arteche produced the group’s first album, Rumba Argelina (Algerian rumba) for his eclectic Música Sín Fín label. Arteche later sold the rights to BMG Spain who in turn licensed it to World Circuit in Great Britain.
Rumba Argelina was an international success thanks to its lively pieces with a Medieval Spanish, North African and Flamenco feeling to it. The reeds heard on the album are not a Middle Eastern instrument but a Renaissance crumhorn played by Vincent Molino. Flamenco cantaor Benjamín Escoriza, from Granada, provided the Andalusian flavor while Faín Dueñas used atypical instruments such as the Gnawan guimbri (a string instrument), the North African darbuka drum and the Turkish tar frame drum.
Discography:
Rumba Argelina (Música Sín Fín, 1993)
Temporal (USA: Nonesuch/Europe: World Circuit, 1998)
Cruzando el Río (USA: Nonesuch/Europe: World Circuit, 2000)
Fiebre (BMG-Spain, 2003)
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.
