COMPOSERS: Radio Tarifa
LABELS: World Circuit
WORKS: Fiebre
PERFORMER: Radio Tarifa
CATALOGUE NO: WCD 066
RADIO TARIFA, active in Spain for a decade now, belongs to an older generation of hybridisers, importing its materials in time (from the Middle Ages) as well as space (from north Africa) and adding them to the home-grown mix that is flamenco.
The group began in the studio, but soon started playing to audiences. Its first live album has two new numbers, but otherwise revisits its repertoire with more instruments, freer improvisations and higher energy levels, excitedly received by a big Toronto crowd.
While the medieval content has boiled down to a couple of reed instruments and one noisy dance, Arabic rhythms propel the performances and the nasal voice of Benjamin Escoriza continues to dominate the soundscape.