LAS HADAS NO VUELAN MÁS - 1. VAGAS NUBES

Usually Colombia is associated with drug wars and extreme violence, you should almost forget that people still make music, even progressive rock! Jaen Kief is a formation from the infamous Colombian city Medellin, in 2003 they released this CD. The seven compositions (some are divided in several parts) sound very tasteful and varied, this is already emphasized in the different atmosphere between the first two tracks: Prologo contains twanging acoustic guitars and warm vocals while Obertura is loaded with a bombastic sound featuring howling electric guitar and propulsive drum beats. On the other songs the music alternates between folk, classical and symphonic rock, especially the electric guitar soli (with echoes from Hackett and Gilmour) are wonderful and very compelling. But the keyboards are also worth to be mentioned, from sparkling piano to soaring strings and a sumptuous church organ sound. A strong point in Jaen Kief their prog is the integration of a variety of instruments like flute traverse (evoking Jethro Tull), saxophone, acoustic guitar and assorted percussion, embellished with inspired Spanish male and female vocals (at some moments a bit theatrical). This makes listening to Jaen Kief to a pleasant musical journey. I hope to hear more from this delicate Colombian band, it is 3 years ago that this CD was released ... do they still exist? I hope so!