APERTURA

Totaly obscure one shot wonder from Argentina named Eternidad with their one and only album released in octobre 1977 named Apertura after that disbanded a year later gone into oblivion. Eternidad offer a kind of prog folk with some fusion elements and some symphonic traces here and there, only sporadicaly but exists, but the main part is a folk band very much similar in places with Los Jaivas or Horizonte. Some fine moments are on opening track Suite: Pensamiento Y Vida and Cueno De Una Nina, nice keybords and choruses, the rest are folk with prog traces, not bad really but nothing really groundbreaking aswell. Nice flute and overall atmosphere instrumental parts here are great on Ciudad Mirame, nice voice, smooth with pleasent passages. Re issued on CD in 2004 by Mardel-X. Nice album overall, with some memorable parts, but far from being excellent. 3 solid stars.

Argentinian band's Eternidad roots can be found in a Folk Rock duo, established in 1971 by brothers Daniel Mendez (guitars, harmonica, vocals) and Roberto Mendez (guitars, lute, vocals).This early outfit would evolve into a 5-piece line-up around mid-70's, featuring also Claudio Pedra on various keyboards and piano, Robi Massarotto on bass/vocals and Luis Yanes on drums/percussion.With the help of guest musicians Antonio Agri on violin and Dino Saluzzi on bandoneon they recorded their sole album ''Apertura'' in 1977 for the Cabal label, the main distributor of Pastoral's albums.

While they went widely unnoticed, Eternidad played an intricate Progressive/Folk Rock with impressive changes between electric leads and acoustic experiments, often overpowered by the symphonic-oriented keyboard work of Claudio Pedra.They somehow come as a mix between PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, PASTORAL and LA MAQUINA DE HAJER PARAJOS, offering intricate folky soundscapes, sensitive multi-vocal lines and quirky, symphonic keyboard themes with the organ and piano in evidence.Actually the longer tracks remind me a lot of YES with some very rich instrumental parts, based on complicated structures, usually breaking into acoustic paths with flute and mandolin in the forefront.The superb alternations between the STEVE HOWE-like guitar chops, the smooth folky interplays and the more grandiose keyboard textures are definitely worth investigating.The shorter pieces are more deeped into Folk music with romantic vocals, lots of acoustic guitars, some Clasical-drenched violin and keyboards in the background as a supporting instrument.But even these tracks contain their own charm, calm and dreamy soundscapes with a flawless lyricism and a soft, pastoral atmosphere in a light rural style.

Shortly after the album's release Luis Yanes was replaced by Daniel Torrigiane, who was the drummer of Eternidad during the presentation of ''Apertura''.However the band would not live much, as they seem to have disbanded not long after this line-up change.

''Apertura'' was reissued on CD by the Mardel-X label and is a great example of symphonic-inclined Folk Rock with dense, interesting arrangements and mellow acoustic underlines.Strongly recommended to fans of the style and groups like PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, HOELDERLIN or Germans EDEN...3.5 stars.

It was interesting to read the reviews written here. The special collaborator "apps79" nailed it spot-on, when comparing Eternidad to Yes. When I first heard the album, the first thing that came to my mind was "this is what Yes would've sounded like if they were a prog folk band". I've basically searched through all bands that are under the sub genre "prog folk" on this website, and this one was by far the best. Most bands take it too much to the baroque or medieval harmonies for my taste, so I am happy when I find a prog band with more Beatlesque-influenced harmonies (such as Yes). Even more interesting is too find prog FOLK bands that explores modern harmonies, modal stuff, etc but that is not really the case here - the case is that Eternidad managed to keep it interesting throughout their album. Their beautiful vocals take the music to another level. Many prog bands, be they symphonic prog bands or even RPI, have very electric and loud instrumental pieces , with a bit of acoustic singing here and there, but I never think that it's enough, especially because most often these singing acoustic parts are not nearly as sophisticated as their instrumental counterparts, which has always frustrated me. Sometimes you hear some amazing instrumental parts, and then when the dude starts to strum the acoustic the guitar and sing , it can be tedious - and I don't mean that they need to make it technically or harmonically complicated. They just have to keep interesting, and Eternidad managed to keep both the instrumental parts and singing parts equally so. It's a shame that they weren't more recognized. I would've loved to hear more by them, they had the perfect instrumentation to their music - the bandoneon was a genius touch towards the last tracks, bringing a bit of the Buenos Aires tango culture into e music, together with legendary Antonio Agri in violin making for a heartbreaking ending to the album. Unfortunately that's life, and who knows why they disbanded, or what they are up to now. I hope that one day people will recognize their genius. This is for me one of the best prog albums ever, even if not 100% strict prog all the way, it's prog enough. I do not agree with the other reviewer, who mentions LOS JAIVAS as something similar to this. They are completely different harmonically. Moreover, Eternidad does not make much use of Amerindian or African-influenced rhythms, their style is quite different, much more influenced by Western music. Of course, if you are interested in folksy prog in general there is a chance that you will like both bands. But I think that HORIZONTE has more to do with it. YES fans should really enjoy this, if they enjoy acoustic music too, simply because Eternidad's seem to have drawn from the same sources as the British giants. Also fans of the later OS MUTANTES (from "O A e o Z"), and actually BEATLES fans too, because of Eternidad's aforementioned Beatlesque harmonies at times. Fans of RPI bands such as PFM might also find this quite pleasing.