Music
Press
“Se trata de un mensaje que -a juzgar por los aplausos- siempre es inmediatamente
percibido por la feligresía en toda su hondura emocional y artística... Fue una exhibición de facultades muy rítmicas entre cuyo tejido resulta extraordinariamente fácil reconocer los inmensos méritos de este mundo reinventado, hasta en los más mínimos detalles. Nada venden y todo suena a verdad.”
- Luis Martín, ABC (Spain)
“La Musgaña lleva más de tres lustros paseando su amor folclórico por las aceras de la tradición castellana, consolidándose como una de las formaciones punteras de nuestro corazón popular... Ellos reavivan la tradición con la firmeza instrumental de su erudición y veteranía musical, y con las maneras urbanas de quienes están comprometidos con su tiempo.”
- Pablo Sanz, EL MUNDO (Spain)
“Temas Profanos constituye probablemente el eslabón más elaborado, minucioso y
excitante de su trayectoria. El nuevo repertorio del trío tiene escalas en Burgos, Segovia, Zamora, Madrid o Salamanca, tierra fecundísima de la que proviene el mejor ejemplo de esta nueva Musgaña.”
- Fernando Neira. EL PAIS (Spain)
“Il y a du “Malicorne” dans ce disque et ce n´est pas la moindre de ces qualités.. Les
mélodies sont mises en valeur par la rythmique et les instruments trad. (acoustiques)
gardent le devant de la scène. Le tout donne une musique qui s`écoule dans le creux de l´oreille. Cinq musiciens au service d´une musique assez proche de la nôtre mais qui garde néan-moins son cachet ibérique.”
- Thierry Laplaud., TRAD MAGAZINE (France)
“La Musgaña know their onions. They play heartfelt tunes with prodigious whooping and leaping about... A glorious mutant of prime Malicorn versatility and the crack of Silly Wizard.”
- Simons Jones, FOLK ROOTS (England)
“La Musgaña´s take on the folk music of central Spain is as old as the troubadors and as young as the electric guitar... it´s delightful, airy stuff – fruited with exquisite melodies, freightened with melancholy and frenzied with irresistible rhythms.”
- Kevin R. Convey, BOSTON HERALD
“While there’s no denying that La Musgaña brings contagious fun to the party, its most significant contribution well may be its ability to prove that music indeed can be a universal language, without boundaries. Muchas gracias, señores.”
- John Roos, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Don´t think, however, that because this is Spanish music it´s a variant of any snappy
flamenco. What La Musgaña produces is a dense, more darkly intense music. By turn, it may sound Arab, Irish or vaguely Asian.”
- Achy Obejas, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Discography
El Diablo Cojuelo (1988)
El Paso de la Estantigua (1989)
Lubicán (1993)
Las Seis Tentaciones (1995)
En Concierto (1997)
Temas Profanos (2003)
20 (2008)
Idas y Venidas (2009)
Photos
Bio
La Musgaña offers us a view of all the instrumental music from the Castilian meseta exploring the essence of Castile’s rich tradition and developing the aesthetic possibilities of a cultural heritage with so much racial mix. Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic have all left their mark on the centre of the Iberian peninsula, and any reference to their art or music finds its reflection in our own Castilian culture, enabling us to continue with a tradition which, far from being static, has imbibed every source it has found on its way.
Take all those dance tunes, love songs, music for rituals such as weddings and village celebrations, perform it on the traditional instruments - bagpipes, wooden flutes,zanfona (hurdy-gurdy) – then add something comtemporary with accordion, mandola, violin and clarinet. This is the sound of La Musgaña, except that you haven´t taken into consideration the whoops, leaps and bassic verve and energy of the band.
They are lighthearted in their approach but are also passionate about the music. One of their group members expressed it best by saing, “this music we play, we feel very close to it. Our attitude is that we want to enjoy the music. We are not trying to present like a window in the anthropological museum, or to show everyone how beautiful it used to be… you can find this music still alive at weddings, parties and celebrations in the countryside. We don’t want to call it ‘sounds from another time’... I mean, this is music!
Enjoy yourself! Go ahead! ”.
Line up on stage:
Diego Galaz: violin
Jorge Arribas: accordion
Jaime Muñoz: three hole flute and drum, clarinet, bagpipes, wooden flutes
Carlos Beceiro: cittern, acoustic guitar, hurdy-gurdy
BIOGRAPHY
From its very beginnings, La Musgaña has wrought its own personal style of handling traditional Castilian music, distancing itself once and for all from the typical arrangements of the rondalla (music of the strolling musicians) which the style had lapsed into.
The first album, recorded for Sonifolk in 1988, was entitled “El diablo cojuelo” (The Crippled Demon) and was totally instrumental, with the exception of the lyrical song “Un soldado menos” (One soldier less).
That same year the group took part in the National Folk Festival for young artists, held in Santiago de Compostela, walking away with a well-deserved first prize in the category of contemporary folk Their performance was filmed on video by Spanish television and as a result of that award the group got the chance to make another album, this time for Spanish Radio and Television’s own label, RTVE, entitled “El paso de la estantigua” (The hobgoblins’ procession) which was the first of their records in CD format.
In 1990 they began touring Europe (UK, Italy, France, Germany, Slovenia, etc.), and that same year they represented Spain at the annual European Broadcasting Union event, the EBU, held in Budapest.
The decision to turn professional led to two of the group members moving on but opened the way for two musicians with a wealth of experience in folk and new trends: Luis Delgado and Cuco Pérez.
By this time la Musgaña had made their third album, which came out in 1991 under the Lady Alicia Records label. Entitled “Lubicán” as a tribute to the Iberian lynx, the album was recorded by the original members of the band with Luis Delgado’s collaboration plus two leading voices for the vocals tracks: Manuel Luna and Javier Bergia.
Their next recording was made for Spanish television for the programme “Arte y artistas”. In 1992 the group recorded three new songs to be included in the re-release of their first album, “El diablo cojuelo” on CD. In 1993, along with other groups, they also took part in an album dedicated to the St James’s Way, entitled Hent Sant Jakez, recorded by the Swiss label, Shamrock. Along with the Breton group, Bleizi Ruz, Desi
Wilkinson from Ireland, and the Galician female group, Leilia, La Musgaña stole the show on many tracks of the album.
Meanwhile, the group was continuously touring abroad, particularly in the States. Catching the attention of one of the major international Celtic and folk music labels, Green Linnet, the label soon offered them a contract for several albums. Starting with a re-release of Lubicán, after the departure of Cuco Pérez from the group, la Musgaña did their first sole recording for Xenophile, Green Linnet’s new ethnic label.
Entitled “Las seis tentaciones” (The Six Temptations) the album was an intoxicating tribute to traditional Castilian music, recorded with an interesting mix of traditional and modern instruments. Perhaps most appropriately from the international point of view, it was a totally instrumental work, with the collaboration of the Basque trikitiari or accordion player, Kepa Junkera, on a number of tracks.
This takes us up to the recording made for their tenth anniversary and entitled En concierto, brought out by the label, Resistencia, in 1997. This is a selection of num
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