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Written in Folk Roots issue 184, 1998

MESTISAY
La Rosa De Los Vientos
Nubenegra/Intuition INT 3207 2 (1997)

The sound of the Canary Islands’ most popular homegrown band, Mestisay, is light, danceable, reminiscent of an airy, largely acoustic non-jazz Cuban son with Portuguese connections and musical scents from the islands’ other sea neighbours such as Madeira, Spain, Cape Verde and mainland West Africa. There are links with musicians too; guests and clear influences include Portugal’s Júlio Pereira and Equatorial Guinea’s Hijas del Sol. Lead vocals, in Spanish, are largely by Olga Cerda, with male voices from the rest of the band.
      The lyrics to such happy-sounding music might be pop froth, but not so. They dig deep into the heart and imaginings of Canaries life - Sulema, the sad messenger of exile and sorrows, the dust of her sandals raising the island’s hot desert wind - “the flower of Guinea”, sent from home to be a housemaid in Europe, who loses her past, drifts into drink and prostitution and dies on the street - or one-eyed, half-bald Tronquillo who goes to Cuba, finds music and an opportunist wife who deserts him on arrival home, but nevertheless returns to Cuba for more fun and another wife.
      Rich, bitter-sweet images, reeking of a sense of place, to attractive, varied music made of a natural, fresh mix of traditional forms and instruments. It’s easy to imagine a Canaries square full of people identifying with the lyrics as they dance - a true popular music.
     

© 1998 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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