LOS JAIVAS [AKA: EL INDIO]

This opens with the very folk orientated Pregón Pa' Iluminarse. However, Guajira Cósmica takes a step into more proginess. An opening chord (for some reason it always reminds me of Bagpuss) Piano and guitar quietly duet. Emotional vocals cry out over a slow folk rhythm, the recorder flits over the sea of sound.

La Conquistada: delicate and peaceful. The quiet piano gives way to amazing percussion. At times it reminds me of the flourishes of a young Ian Paice. In fact there's more than a hint of very early Deep Purple here. A beautiful track. The song builds, and subsides before the final crescendo.

Un Mar De Gente begins with guitar and woodwind then we hear the roar of a crowd and the tempo picks up with ethnic percussion. I have no idea what the various instruments are but the overall effect is vibrant and uplifting.

Un Día De Tus Días is a quiet folk song. Since my Spanish is only slightly better than my Urdu a lot is lost on me with this one.

Tarka Y Ocarina: the 15 minute track kicks of with some psychedelic fuzziness and driving rhythm. Not what i was expecting given the preceding tracks. More reminiscent of early Black Sabbath at the start. Then a change: the piano hammers out a dramatic chord sequence before mellowing into sweeping scales. Some woodwind comes in, and we are out of rock territory. the sweeping piano is like the sea rising and falling or the trees bending in the breeze, very atmospheric. The piano descends the scale (Hmm the opening of Chinatown Thin Lizzy in the early 80s is very similar).

The percussion remains persistently excellent throughout. A couple of the earlier tracks may not excite but a n exceleent prog track and one that would be great to have in your collection.

My CD also came with 2 bonus tracks:

En Tus Horas A relatively short guitar and vocal folk track. Mambo de Machaguay Opens with drums and piano, and a cry of delight. Then that fuzzy guitar returns. The simple guitar line sits over the frenetic percussion and is soon joined by ethnic woodwind. It bearks down to vocals and clapping but retunrs quickly to the vocal and guitar. Very rhythmical. I'd love to see this live. The guitar playing reminds me a bit of the early Horslips (obviously without the irish folk influence, if you're familiar with the Horslips you'll understand).