Q. M. I. P R E S E N T S Musik Review
Q. M. I. P R E S E N T S Musik ReviewEven though
you've abandoned me
Even though you've killed my dreams
Instead of cursing you with rightful anger
In my dreams I overwhelm you
In my dreams I overwhelm you
With blessings
-"Lágrimas Negras"
Critics Choice Album of the Year, New York Times. Awards often mean very little, but then again, sometimes they are well deserved. That is true for this spectacular CD: Lagrimas Negras by Bebo & Cigala. It is a masterpiece of creative collaboration. It is a moment in time and space and floats forever in the universal place of the collective unconscious.
It was nominated for five Latin Grammy Awards in 2004. It was Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Traditional Tropical Album, Best Engineered Album and Javier 
Limon was named Producer of the Year for its presentation. It 
achieved CD Double Platinum sales status in Spain as well as being on their best-selling CD charts for 58 weeks. This CD is the winner of five Amigo Awards. This presentation is a global creative event that crosses over into the mainstream interest simply because it is such a compelling expression of the human heart.
Above: Diego El Cigala as flamenco guitarist looks on.
This extraordinary
collaboration between Bebo Valdes and Diego El Cigala is "an
unforgettable meeting between generations, eras, traditions, and
voices." Flamenco singer Diego El Cigala teams up with Bebo
Valdes, pianist extraordinaire, to create an expression of 
love that is packed
with feelings and memories even if you do not understand Spanish.
It blends classical with jazz, flemenco, blues and torch singing
with a Jacques Brel kind of "Ne Me Quitte Pas" flair.
Above: Musicians and Cigala gather round Bebo at the piano.
Right: Cigala belts out a song as he rehearses with Bebo.
As you listen you
can imagine yourself transported to Havana as the world's refugees
flee chaos in the middle of the night in another time. You sit
there quietly, relaxing in a dimly lit cantina with drink in hand
as you become audience to a personal moment with artisans of sound.
This music captures the everyday simplicity found in exotic locations
expressing the greatness of life and its creative sophistication
also emerges to fill your soul as well. You find that you could
be anywhere: Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, San Francisco, Paris,
Berlin , Rio or Casablanca.
Above: Violinist Britos coordinates string accompaniment with Bebo.
Below: Cigala is pleased and doesn't hide it.
Right: More work on background vocals as Bebo accompanies.
This music demands
a bottle of wine but don't drink too much or too fast. The music
itself is a fine wine that will warm you with its unusual genuineness
of tradition and esoteric flavor as genres are stitched together
like fine wall hangings in the moonlight of an evening in eternity.
Bebo Valdes is an 85-year-old Cuban pianist living in Stockholm
who meets up with a 35-year-old gypsy singer living in Madrid.
Diego "El Cigala" (Diego the small crayfish, real name
Ramon Jimenez Salazar) bends his voice into the contours of guajiras,
montunos and boleros. Lagrimas Negras, "full of lemon trees
and lost love,"
named after the classic Miguel Matamoros lament will overwhelm
you and bless you at the same time as you discover the spellbinding
mosaic of these nine classics. This music, with its aching, mournful
longing and mixtures of cante jondo and Afro-Cuban, become one
with tango and bossa nova. The sounds of piano, acoustic bass,
violin, saxophone, and Spanish guitar create a stream upon which
the vocals dance.
Right: Bebo and Cigala.
Bebo Valdes, winner
of two Grammy's, is a true master from the Golden Age of Cuban
music: composer/arranger, pianist, and bandleader, and has risen
in international music as a living legend. Diego El Cigala, once
Spain's most beloved newcomer, "the Sinatra of flemenco,"
stands as one of music's most vital voices. Cigala incorporates
his own legacy of cante jondo the Spanish deep song
musical bloodline of Spanish Gitano culture. True creativity will
bring tradition to contemporary ears as it opens the mind to visions
deep within. It is said that he "dives passionately into
the heart of a song with the wisdom of a wounded veteran and the
innocence of a child."
Bob Garcia, associate editor of Open City,
the underground newspaper I worked for in the 1960's, and head
of publicity at A & M records for 24 years, turned me on to
this CD to which I will forever be grateful. Lagrimas Negras (translated
as "Black Tears"): "I suffer the immense sorrow
of your loss. I feel the profound pain of your departure and I
cry without you knowing that I weep black tears. Tears as dark
as my life." Calle54 Records Bluebird/RCA Victor
www.beboandcigala.com
Above : Bebo and Cigala with producer.
