EL ARTE DE SEGUIR VIVOS

Kharmina Buranna is an interesting band from Peru who is becoming better known here in Mexico due to their relationship with Azafran Media, and though their debut album was not released under that label, I could manage to own a copy of "El arte de seguir vivos" which was released in 2008 with Mylodon Records. The album features five compositions and a total time of 52 minutes of good progressive rock with rock and blues hints, very interesting.

It kicks off with "Bosque de piedras" which is the longest composition here, it is challenging to begin with an epic, so kudos for them. The song starts with keyboards, making a symphonic sound, after a minute drums and strings join and begin to build a nice structure, the instrumental part is brief because later vocals appear and make a change in the rhythm and style, with a rockish feeling. After 4 minutes the song shows a new face, acoustic guitar and flute creating a beautiful folkish passage that sounds so Latin, reminiscent of some Argentinean or Chilean 70s bands. Then it changes again, with more power and more musical elements, as well as cool lyrics "entu desolación encontrarás la calma" is one of my favorite phrases of the whole album. What I like of this song is that they were capable of collecting different styles with apparently distant forms and put it in one long piece; it is a very good composition that let us know about the band's skills.

"Del parque" begins again with some soft keyboards but after 40 seconds it becomes bluesy and rockier, it greatly flows and with keys and guitars make also a kind of spacey sound, so it is again a salad of sounds and styles, which is a description of Kharmina Buranna's music. Here we can also listen to cool guitar riffs and some nice time signature changes. "El arte de seguir vivos" is the shortest track, and continues with the bluesy style, something like Led Zep meets Invisible meets Gov't Mule, so go figure. This is another nice track.

"Sueños de opio" has a truly promising beginning with a delicious sound that once again combines the prog with the blues rock, here they also play the flute so the mixture is wonderful again. After a minute it slows down, the spacey synth enters and the bass play some notes, this is like a moment of uncertainty because nobody knows what will happen next, but then the first rhythm returns now with keyboards as a crucial player. Just before the fifth minute vocals enter, this passage is slow, the music calmed down and now it is not a ballad, but it is not far from it; the music flows and new elements are being added little by little, keyboard solos can also be heard. The last part is very pastoral, with violin and flute creating a warm and beautiful atmosphere, an unexpected ending of this great song.

The last track is "Labra un lugar (para sonidos)" which offers a feast of sounds and music, we are music, we are everything and it is reflected in this song, because we can find everything here: from prog to folk, from blues to space rock, all well built and structured, a clever composition that does not ask anything from the big old bands, in other words, Kharmina Buranna should be more in the spot, more people should notice their music because it is great, and they are truly talented.

A solid debut album by this Peruvian band, which deserves 4 stars at least.

Enjoy it!