QUENTADHARKËN

From the North Eastern Coast of Spain, Catalonia, Amarok emerges as one of the most prominent and original prog acts worldwide nowadays. Their leaning towards musical sources from Muslim, Celtic and Turkish folk, as well as Renaissance and Medieval tradition, allows them to create a very colourful musical trend of their own, energized by the inclusion of symphonic elements and jazz fusion structures: the result is amazing, exciting, magical. Their most recent effort, "Quentadharkën", has got to be one of 2004's top releases, full of mysterious exotism and superb musicianship. Robert Santamaria is very obviously the leader of the band, not only writing all instrumentations, but also performing keyboards and other sundry instruments (acoustic 12-string guitar, saz, kanoun, autoharp, tuned percussion.) with great skill. But again, it's fair to say that all other members (plus occasional guests) are given quite enough space to shine for the benefit of the preservation of Amarok's musical richness - guitar, sax and flute solos, as well as some passages where the percussives are featured in the mix, all of them come out for good use. While the general mood is mostly acoustically driven, this is not mere "world music" or plain folk, as it is clearly shown in 'Tierra Boreal', 'La Espiral' and the namesake 'Quentadharkën' (the three suites), as well as the effective opener 'Hsieh'. Any of them could serve as a perfect sample of Amarok's capability to create well structured and fluidly integrated amalgams out of varied sonic sources throughout all mood, melody and rhythm shifts. A special mention goes to vocalist extraordinaire Marta Segura, who handles her contralto voice with immaculate skill and spectacular versatility: she can be sensual and mystical, evocative and festive, either melting cleverly with the instrumental crowd that expands all around her or serving as a story teller. 'Encantamiento' and 'Alumbrado' are both beautiful brief acoustic pieces that show the band's serene facet, while 'La Última Expedición' and 'Hogueras' - the stunning closing section to 'La Espiral' - are IMHO the most impressive electric passages of the album. The bonus tracks are also quite good: four tracks from 1998 demos, which must be listened to mostly as an extension of "Quentadharkën" official repertoire. What else can I say about this 2004 master opus? Nothing... only give it the maximum rating.

(Review dedicated to my prog partners: José Manuel Iñesta, from Spain, and Juan José Salas, from Mexico)

This «Amarok» album is their most achieved so far. It combines lots of Eastern influences, jazz passages and more rocking ones as well. There are a wide variety of instruments used on this album which provides a deep folk texture (the traditional ones + oboe, violin, harp, sax, flute etc.). The opening track "Hsieh" is quite demonstrative in this aspect. It is a highlight already.

On their web-site, the band clearly indicates that they have opted for references from Arab and Turkish music. It is a fine add-on and this album sounds pretty diversified. The well named "Encantamiento" (enchantment) is a delicious acoustic and instrumental folkish ballad with a good interplay between flute, piano and guitar.

The long and jazzy "Tierra Boreal" is more complex and holds even some similarities with ELP. The keyboards work deserves a mention during the long intro. The band then reverts to a more conventional prog folk music with a sweet combination of flute, piano and even some mellotron lines. Some harder part with loud electric guitar completes the picture. This is all well crafted and performed; another highlight.

"La Espiral" opens on a quite skilled Spanish guitar (long) intro which is a bit ruined afterwards with some accordion and vocalizing effects which are not quite in place here. At least I feel so. The Arab influence mentioned above is fully expressed in this song as well.

The pièce de résistance is the long suite made of five tracks and which clocks at over twenty minutes all together. This is quite an impressive piece of music that featuresmost of the sounds that have been heard previously on this album (ELP, jazz, folk, flute and piano). The band paves the way for a wonderful "promenade": from gentle and acoustic parts, the listener is at times embarked into a more solid and rock theme and then back again confronted to the delicate voice of Marta Segura. What a ride!

I would say that this long suite is often in line with the symph style, which is quite alright as far as I am concerned. Fans from this genre wouldn't be disappointed while listening to this very good album.

There are also over fifteen minutes of bonus tracks available. The first one "Labirintos De Piedra" is a remake of the song published in '98 on the average album "Gibra'ara".

In all, this album deserves four stars. It is by far my favourite from "Amarok" so far. Should you only discover one album from this band: "Quentadharken" is the one by no doubt!

I can't for the life of me remember why I wanted this record. I'm not into Folk music so I must have thought there was something about this that was different. It does have a World music vibe no doubt, even Celtic at times but this is Folk music with a female singer. Now if you are into Folk this Spanish band will impress you i'm sure.

"Hsieh" picks up a minute in with sax, drums and bass. Flute replaces the sax as they trade off for a while. They keep mixing things up in this song. Violin comes and goes. Vocals 4 1/2 minutes in and i'm not a fan although she sings fine. Best part of the song is 6 1/2 minutes in when the guitar shows up. "La Ultima Expedicion" features organ and an epic sound early then the synths and a beat take over. Vocals a minute in as it settles. A spacey calm before 3 1/2 minutes when the vocals stop. It kicks in with vocals before 4 minutes. "Encantamiento" sounds like we are in China. Very Eastern sounding. "Tierra Boreal" is much better. A good beat and rhythm with sax and flute helping out. Organ then leads before 1 1/2 minutes then it settle a minute later. Sounds like mellotron then accordion after 5 minutes followed by vocals a minute later. Guitar before 8 minutes. This is better. Vocals return to end it.

"La Espiral" is Chinese sounding then the vocals come in at 2 minutes. Not a fan. Accordion too then it kicks in before 6 1/2 minutes followed by guitar. "Alumbrado" has piano, flute and mellotron sounds. Mellow stuff. "Los Origenes" opens with acoustic guitar as cymbals and piano join in. An electric guitar solo follows then back to piano. It settles late with mellotron. "Los Hechos" is mellow with vocals. "La Batalla" opens with piano and sax then it kicks in with vocals. I like the instrumental break that follows then the vocals return before 3 1/2 minutes with piano and violin. "Final" is laid back with vocals, flute and more. Not a fan. "Coda" is led by synths and percussion after a minute followed by organ then a Celtic vibe. Vocals return after 3 minutes.

For fans only in my opinion. Not a fan of this album at all. Highly recommended to fans of Folk though.

Quentadharken is a well-crafted folk-jazz album by Spanish musicians. The recording sounds a bit as if it were recorded live in a small club--especially the thin-tinny drums. This is, however, the album's weak point: It doesn't really feel like a studio album. Still, the performances are wonderful; the group definitely has a polished, well-rehearsed sound to it--a sound that is at times 1960/70s jazz (think early FERMATA and SANTANA), at others Middle Ages troubadour music (even Gypsy or Arabic), sometimes even Celtic. Sometimes Amarok's music is sax driven, others piano, others guitar, others saxophone, often organ, and still others driven by synthesizer or its sultry female vocalist. Variety and diversity are never lacking here! The music crosses and blends so many time periods, so many cultural lines, as to be often breathtaking, and always unusual and unexpected. All of the music could survive without the presence of the vocals and be just fine.

Album highlights: the work of the bass and woodwind players; the guitar and keyboard work; the interesting symphonic and deeply layered song constructs. Favorite songs: the 'medieval jazz'y "Encantamiento" (2:56) (9/10); the KING CRIMSON-plays-French-MIKE OLDFIELD-like epic, "Tierra Boreal" (9:02) (9/10); the gorgeous vocal on the GENESIS 'medieval Arabic,' "La Espiral" (7:54) (9/10); the moving little LE GRAND/LA GOYA/RAMPAL-like "Alumbrado" (1:38) (10/10); the acoustic-based, jazzified, GENESIS Selling England by the Pound-like "Los Origenes" (5:04) (8/10); the STEVE HILLAGE-meets-STEELY DAN-like "Los Hechos" (3:08) (9/10); the KOTEBEL-like "La Batalla" (4:18) (8/10); the delicate ALAN STIVELL-meets- SPIROGYRA-like "Final" (4:42) (8/10); the wonderful woodwind-dominated folk song, "Coda" (4:06) (10/10), and; the funked-up YUGEN-like, "Laberintos de Piedra" (5:22) (8/10).

A 4/4.5 star effort: Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.