Acetre – A la Casa de las Locas (Acetre, 2021)
“A la Casa de las Locas” is Acetre‘s latest album, with which they continue their fascinating explorations of traditional music from the western Spanish region of Extremadura and the borderlands with Portugal.
As in previous albums, Acetre recreates tradition by adding modern music elements such as bass, drum set, and keyboards, along with beautifully crafted vocal harmonies and chamber music influences. This way, ancient melodies and timeless tunes sound fresh, maintaining tradition while at the same time, sounding modern and appealing to newer generations at folk and world music concerts and festivals.
Some local and regional dances and tunes recreated by Acetre include perantones, pindongos, tonadas festivas and alboradas extremeñas fom Spain together with verdegaios, fados and corridiños from the Portuguese tradition.
The band hails from Olivenza, not far from Portugal, where Spanish and Portuguese culture intermingles. Although the majority of the songs are in Spanish, Acetre also presents a handful of songs where they use a regional Portuguese dialect.
The current lineup includes Antonio Leyras on bass; Víctor Asensio on flutes, clarinet and gaita extremeña (Extremaduran flute); Ana Jiménez on vocals and bouzouki; Mamen Sánchez on vocals and percussion; Vicky González on drum set, percussion and vocals; Paco Croche on saxophone and percussion; Laura Ferrera on violin and vocals; Inés Romero on accordion; and arranger and composer José-Tomás Sousa on acoustic guitar and keyboards.
Guests: Carlos Beceiro (La Musgaña) on hurdy-gurdy; Miguel Angel Blanco on guitar; and Fernando Merechán on cello.
The riveting music of Acetre will transport the listener to a lesser traveled place with a rich culture in the borderlands of Extremadura.
More about Acetre
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.