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Written in fRoots issue 305, 2008


XOSÉ MANUEL BUDIÑO
Home
Falcatruada FAL-400 (2007)

Releases by ace Galician bagpiper Budiño aren’t frequent. That’s because right from his first album, the still very fresh Paralaia, he’s clearly expended a lot of time and care in crafting them.
     And they certainly are well crafted, but since the acuteness of that first one he’s been tending to pack his albums with layers and programmed sounds that, even while expertly done, to some extent blur the impact of the melodies he writes. The peak of that was 2004’s Zume Da Terra; even so, like Arredor before it, it contained much of interest and is well worth having, and so is Home.
      It’s leaner in personnel than its predecessor, featuring just nine musicians plus Budiño, including Breton fiddler Jacky Molard who has been a key participant in all four albums, and the contribution from Mercedes Peón, who has graced all except Zume Da Terra, singing her own lyrics to Budiño’s melody in Inmaterial is a standout. There’s plenty more to please, including the incorporation of an archive recording of the characterful voices of the famous Galician coral Aires da Terra mixing in with gaita and bombo (skin-headed bass drum) in the elegiac Sempre Alalá.
      Even so, though each number starts promisingly and distinctively, Budiño could perhaps do with the stern ear of another producer to tell him when a track has reached its constructional peak and he can stop the layer-building or strip it back and refocus on its heart and meaning. The closing track, Imos Dj, comes as a brisk blast of fresh air – just Budiño playing the gaita with thrilling life and energy, accompanied only by the thrilling thud, jingle-clatter and stuttering snare press-roll of Xosé Lois Romero’s bombo, pandeireta and tambor in one of his tunes that’s as fine as any in the tradition.
      www.xosemanuelbudino.com


© 2008 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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