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Panamericana draws its inspiration from all across the Americas, and plays like a dreamy soundtrack where cha-cha-cha and boleros mix with classical harmonies and cowboy music. The result is a collection of thirteen songs, each of which is a "sparkling gem” (The New Yorker.)
La Carretera Panamericana is the highway which crisscrosses the American continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. It inspired Las Rubias' new album which is a collection of songs drawn from all across the Americas: Mexican Ranchera, Venezuelan Pasaje, Colombian Cumbia, Peruvian Vals, Andean Huaynos, Cuban Cancion, North Amercian Cowboy music - and a French Yéyé classic thrown in to please the keen traveler who never really minds getting a little lost.
The material gathered on Panamericana ranges from the classic to the obscure. Volver, Volver is a Mexican ranchera anthem of sorts, first popularized by Vicente Fernandez; The Peruvian Huayno Corazon, Corazon, was heard by chance in a small mountain town in Peru, during one of the Rubias' South American travels. Despedida is a Venezuelan pasaje orignally written and recorded by Simon Diaz whose fame never managed to reach the Northern Hemisphere. The other Corazon, Corazon was penned by Jose Alfredo Jimenez - probably the greatest composer of Mexican rancheras, and has been performed by Lola Beltran, Pedro Infante, Chavela Vargas and others. Cada Domingo... and Ay Raquel are two great examples of Vals Criollos, another genre seldom heard outside of Peru where its most illustrious living proponents, Oscar Aviles and Zambo, are household names.
Canto Indio is one of Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona's lesser known pieces, recorded in the 30's by the Lecuona Cuban Boys. Agustin Lara' Noche de Ronda has made it into the repertoire of Latin American standards, from Cuba and Mexico to Peru and Argentina. Le Temps de l'Amour was an early hit for French Yéyé star Francoise Hardy, who probably never imagined that it would ever be re-interpreted as a Domincan-tinged number. Baby was written by Caetano Veloso in the heyday of the Tropicalia movement and recorded, in both English and Portuguese, by Os Mutantes. Blue Prairie is one of the Sons of the Pioneers classic and el Relicario is a turn of the century Paso Doble written by Padillo for one of his Zarzuelas.
Some of these songs have been heard all over the world, others are known whitin their national or regional borders while some have hardly ever been heard at all. This may seem like a disparate assorment, but the striking aspect of Panamericana is its homogeneity. The album flows seamlessly from song to song, from country to country, never giving in to the dangers of imitation or to the lure of false authenticity. Las Rubias have created an unmistakably original sound which only distantly owes to the various genres it covers. In the end, their music remains a nostalgic throwback to a time and place mostly imagined.
Panamericana was recorded by Andy
Taub, mixed by Mark Plati
(David Bowie, Brazilian Girls) and features a stellar cast of guest
musicians including keyboardist Anthony
Coleman, Vibraphonist Matt
Moran, clarinetist Oscar
Noriega, accordionist Josh Camp
(One Ring Zero) and Gypsy Swing guitarist Stephane
Wrembel.
Barbès records is distributed by Ryko