Luiz Pérez — En el Ombligo de la Luna
((Not on label) no#, 1981/2013, CD)
by Peter Thelen, 2013-04-01:
by Jon Davis, 2013-12-10:
I would imagine that when this album was first released back in 1981, people referred to it as "timeless." It starts out with a wooden flute and a wide array of shakers and other percussion, and in the listener's imagination, it's something that could have been recorded 500 years ago if the technology had existed to record it. The second track continues with wooden flute and percussion, though it concentrates more on drums and wooden sounds than on shakers; there's also something that sounds like a conch shell being blown. The credits (as far as my Spanish will get me) merely say that all instruments are of Pre-Columbian origin with the exception of guitar, bass, echo chambers, frequency analyzer, phase shifter, sin-ei (not sure what that is, maybe a synthesizer, since I'd swear I hear one), and gong. The modern instruments start appearing on the third track, but Pérez handles the transition so smoothly that it's not jarring. About five minutes into "Ketzakoatl Yauh Miktlan" he develops a groove reminiscent of Mike Oldfield, which isn't a bad reference point since both are multi-instrumentalists who build up music part by part in the studio. The way Pérez combines these ancient and modern instruments seems perfectly natural, which leads to another "timeless" factor — this is music not rooted in any particular time, which could exist anywhere on the timeline from ancient times into the future. In some ways, En el Ombligo de la Luna is a precursor to some World Music, but I wouldn't push that comparison too far. This recording stands on its own regardless of its innovation at the time of original release, another way in which it is "timeless."Filed under: Reissues , 2013 releases, 1981 releases
Related artist(s): Luiz Pérez
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