This Week's Picks (#6)

Please enjoy this week's picks.

"De Los Amores" by Susana Baca


This track is off the Peruvian singer, Susana Baca's album, Eco De Sombras (2000). Baca gained her respected status as an international artist after the release of her 1995 album, The Soul of Black Peru. Full of heart-felt emotion, this song gives me goosebumps. The lyrics sing of love's pain, "como duele el esmero, como duele (How love hurts, oh, how it hurts)." In only the way a South American songwriter can, Susana Baca crafts a song that is both an alluring, delicate combination of sounds and a tormented cry from the heart.
(Reviewed by Alexandra)


"World Massala" by Terrakota


Terrakota is a genius fusion group that describes themselves effectively as roots/reggae/afro-beat. This particular track is from their forthcoming album to be released in October 2010 and adds even more to their eclecticism. Incorporating a Punjabi groove into their reggae and afro-beat sounds, Terrakota creates a new sound that works surprisingly well. Sections that are highly Punjabi in influence give way to hybrid reggae bits, amazing listeners with the effortless blend. Terrakota's other tracks are great if you are in the reggae mood, but this track can get you grooving anytime.
(Reviewed by Alexandra)


"Romeo & Leila" by Ghalia Benali


This title track from Ghalia Benali's 2007 ablum. As the title suggests, this entire album represents a meeting of east and west- from the Western story of Romeo and Juliet and it's Eastern equivalent Kais and Leila. In this spirit of this blending, Ghalia uses her beautiful Arabic vocals over a background of oud and cello playing a mixture of both Eastern and Western classical music while throwing in a bit of jazz. Singing in Arabic, Benali says of this choice "...[Arabic] gives to me a feeling of mystery and magic, the weight of the word and its musical quality...the effect is immediate, the emotion that I try to forward is released, and often the spectator does not need 'translation to feel what I express."
(Reviewed by Alexandra)