Various Artists: A Heart In SplintersVarious Artists: A Heart In SplintersVarious Artists: A Heart In SplintersVarious Artists: A Heart In Splinters
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Various Artists: A Heart In Splinters

Stunning presentation of outstanding "Golden Era of Ecuadorian musica national"

Impatiently returning to the golden age of Ecuadorian musica national, this second round of retrievals is more of a selectors’ affair: less reverent, more free-flowing, with more twists and turns. There is no let-up in the quality of the music, maintaining the same judicious, heart-piercing balance between emotional desolation and dignified endurance, the same bitter-sweet play between affective excess and formal sublimity.
This time around, the woman steal the show. Laura and Mercedes Suasti were child stars, with an exclusive Radio Quito contract. Unlike nearly all the men here, they lived long and prospered: Mercedes died last year, at the age of 93. Gladys Viera and Olga Gutierrez both came to Ecuador from Argentina. To start, Gladys plugged the scandalous new Monokini swimwear; Olga performed for visiting British royalty in 1962. Olga was glamorous but tough. She would make little of the amputation of one of her legs: ‘I don’t sing with my leg.’ She is accompanied on our opener by quintessentially reeling, sultry musica national: haunted-house organ, twinkling xylophone, Guillermo Rodriguez’ heart-plucking guitar-playing, and lilting, dance-to-keep-from-crying double-bass. ‘Sometimes I think that you will leave me with no memories,’ she sings, ‘that you hold only disappointments in store for me… In the future your love will search me out, full of regret. By then it will be too late, there will be no consolation, only disappointment awaiting you.’
Other highlights include the two contributions of Orquesta Nacional: Ponchito Al Hombro, like an off-the-wall forerunner of the Love Unlimited Orchestra, beamed into the tropics from an unknowable time and space; and the tone poem Atahualpa, a mystical yumbo invoking Quito’s most ancient inhabitants, the Kichwa. Also the tremulous, gypsy-flavoured violin-playing of Raul Emiliani, who arrived in Quito from Italy, suffering PTSD from the Second World War; the inscrutable, sardonic experimentalism of organist Lucho Munoz; and the mooing and whistling of Toro Barroso — cow-thief school of Lee Perry — in which a muddy bull dashes home to his darling chola, fearless, full of desire.
Lavishly presented, with a full-size, full-colour booklet, with transporting art-work and expert notes. Luminous sound, by way of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas.
Truly spell-binding music.

Various Artists: A Heart In Splinters

Various Artists: A Heart in Splinters: More from the Caife Label, Quito, 1960-68

Stunning presentation of outstanding "Golden Era of Ecuadorian musica national"

Olga Gutiérrez: A Veces He Pensado2:58AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Hermanas Mendoza Suasti: Alas de Sombra2:57AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Benitez y Valencia: Amor en Tus Ojos2:48AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Caspi Shungo: Mal Pago2:45AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Gladys Viera: Palomita Cuculi2:30AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Orquesta Nacional: Ponchito al Hombro2:35AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Lida Uquillas: Tengo un Amor2:26AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Los Inaquingas: Blanco Lirio2:38AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Segundo Bautista: La Naranja2:44AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Benitez y Valencia: Lindos Ojos2:46AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Los Barrieros: Siendo Triste Vivo Alegre2:36AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Segundo Bautista: Soledad2:37AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Raul Emiliani & Hector Bonilla: Imploracion Indigena2:45AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Caspi Shungo: Indio Soy2:35AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Duo Aguayo Huayamabe: Mi Ultima Ilusion2:42AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Conjunto CAIFE: Huasipichay2:31AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Hermanas Mendoza Suasti: Para Ti2:39AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Olga Gutiérrez: Despedida2:56AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Lucho Muñoz: Lamparilla2:57AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Los Hermanos Valencia: Destrozado Corazon2:52AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Luis Alberto Valencia: Toro Barroso2:54AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Los Barrieros: Ashcu de Primo2:43AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Duo Aguayo Huayamabe: Panuelo de Penas2:33AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Hermanas Mendoza Suasti: Alma Enamorada2:34AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Benitez y Valencia: Lamparilla2:54AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00
Orquesta Nacional: Atahualpa2:29AIFF € 1.25MP3 € 1.00

Impatiently returning to the golden age of Ecuadorian musica national, this second round of retrievals is more of a selectors’ affair: less reverent, more free-flowing, with more twists and turns. There is no let-up in the quality of the music, maintaining the same judicious, heart-piercing balance between emotional desolation and dignified endurance, the same bitter-sweet play between affective excess and formal sublimity.
This time around, the woman steal the show. Laura and Mercedes Suasti were child stars, with an exclusive Radio Quito contract. Unlike nearly all the men here, they lived long and prospered: Mercedes died last year, at the age of 93. Gladys Viera and Olga Gutierrez both came to Ecuador from Argentina. To start, Gladys plugged the scandalous new Monokini swimwear; Olga performed for visiting British royalty in 1962. Olga was glamorous but tough. She would make little of the amputation of one of her legs: ‘I don’t sing with my leg.’ She is accompanied on our opener by quintessentially reeling, sultry musica national: haunted-house organ, twinkling xylophone, Guillermo Rodriguez’ heart-plucking guitar-playing, and lilting, dance-to-keep-from-crying double-bass. ‘Sometimes I think that you will leave me with no memories,’ she sings, ‘that you hold only disappointments in store for me… In the future your love will search me out, full of regret. By then it will be too late, there will be no consolation, only disappointment awaiting you.’
Other highlights include the two contributions of Orquesta Nacional: Ponchito Al Hombro, like an off-the-wall forerunner of the Love Unlimited Orchestra, beamed into the tropics from an unknowable time and space; and the tone poem Atahualpa, a mystical yumbo invoking Quito’s most ancient inhabitants, the Kichwa. Also the tremulous, gypsy-flavoured violin-playing of Raul Emiliani, who arrived in Quito from Italy, suffering PTSD from the Second World War; the inscrutable, sardonic experimentalism of organist Lucho Munoz; and the mooing and whistling of Toro Barroso — cow-thief school of Lee Perry — in which a muddy bull dashes home to his darling chola, fearless, full of desire.
Lavishly presented, with a full-size, full-colour booklet, with transporting art-work and expert notes. Luminous sound, by way of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas.
Truly spell-binding music.