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Written in fRoots issue 251, 2004


XOSÉ MANUEL BUDIÑO
Zume De Terra
Boa Do Fol 34 (2004)

Brilliant piper Budiño’s first album, Paralaia, remains a fresh, incisive and melodic tour de force. Not one to stand still and reiterate, since then he has explored other sounds and approaches. For this third album, all his own composition but naturally deeply rooted in Galician music and culture, he’s moved into doing much of his own engineering. That includes rhythm programming and the injection of samples from field recordings made around Galicia by Alan Lomax and Mercedes Peón, from news reports of the Prestige oil spill, and from the 1941 speech to Galician exiles by artist Alfonso Castelao that gives the album its title, which translates as “the juice of the land”.
      At first listen, there’s an impression of rather a lot of thick, thudding programmed percussion that seems somewhat retrogressive. Once past the first couple of tracks, though, the finer details start to emerge: young Cape Verdean/Portuguese singer Sara Tavares (whose own showcase at Womex 2002 was a delight) delivering Uxía Senlle’s lyrics in Na Liña Da Maré, the light Brazilian voice of Lilian Vieira on Quérome Salvar, and the winding tune Arrieiros Somos featuring Budiño’s own multitracked vocals and the fiddle of Jacky Molard. And there’s no doubt of Budiño’s high skill and strong character as a piper, here using Galician, Bulgarian and uilleann versions. His programming and piping come together particularly well on the deep swing of Burbullas Á Grella.
      The thirteenth track isn’t listed nor details given, but it’s a catchy, attractive multilingual singalong with breaks taken by Galician, West African and Hindi vocalists, Karen Matheson in a burst of Gaelic puirt-a-beul and the instantly identifiable soaring wail of Mercedes Peón, returning to grace this album as she did Budiño’s first and second.


© 2004 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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