My favorite Latin American singer
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Artist:
For those of you who enjoyed my post last April featuring the Ecuadoran singer Olimpo Cardenas, here's one of his fellow Ecuadoran pasillo singers Julio Jaramillo (1935-1978) who loomed large in Latin American music and recorded 4000 songs. In a genre that favors grand romantic emotion, his voice had just enough restraint to ring true, not false or forced. The half-dozen LPs of his that I came across in the 1980s and 90s have some variety, but the three tracks here that first came to my mind today as standouts are all uptempo minor-key waltzes:
"Golondrinas"
"Fatalidad"
and "Felicitacion"
I had never heard of him until I came across his LP Pasionarias (which contained the above track "Fatalidad") in the 1980s and bought it only because of the cover art and because it looked as if it might have Latin guitar solos.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (20)
Lovely, Spike!
I couldn't really pick one of these songs that I love more than the others. They all just seem to exist in a slipstream of pure yearning. Maybe the guitars in "Felicitation" tip teh balance in its favor. But you're right - this is a perfect voice....
I know that musically this is not the same as the stuff we hear from Cape Verde...but the vibe is similar. Very nice.
Out of my realm of knowledge and comprehension
I'm captivated, Spike! Golden, like honey floating on air. His beautiful, affecting singing is nestled in a perfect, tasteful instrumental setting. Clearly accomplished musicians. Is there a type of hammered dulcimer in some songs, like La Luna En El Corona?
One is happy about your five positive responses.
ivylander, "to exist in a slipstream of pure yearning" is a very poetic description of tension eased by smooth passage. I'll spout it to others when you're not nearby.
Cody, I agree about that vibe. Maybe because Portugal and Spain are neighbors?
Ghost in You, that purple guy expressed it way better than I could. I hope your realm that you mentioned has now expanded to include Jaramillo. If not, I'll have to work you over.
Spike 1, "Honey floating on air." Exactly! Your question led me to notice how cool the MOG radio is. It's a harp, not a hammered dulcimer. It reminds me that Ecuador is right next to Peru, known for its Andean harp music.
Spike, it is stuff like this, that makes MOG the great thing for me that it is.
It expands and educates me every once in a while, and although I may not go running out to spend cash after every new discovery, I am at least getting richer none the less.
yeah, I always thought MOG made my musical palette richer..but on the other hand..my pockets have gotten a lot lighter because of this place. No comment on my loafers.
Both Spike's (1 and this post's Spike) have deep crates of sounds we don't get to hear all the time, from exotic locales around the globe. MOG (inter)National Treasures they are.
I am a dabbler..looking always for the connections music from other places has to ours..other than jazz, we haven't come up with much that isn't easily traced back out of our borders.
Ghost in You, yeah it's amazing what great stuff moggers come up with all the time. We get to share with each other without revealing our in-person foibles.
Cody, I was going to ask you about your loafers, but never mind. I share your passion for dabbling and connecting musics. Jazz's components are easily traced out of our borders to Europe and Africa (and the Caribbean). Remember reading that "jazz is the only truly American art form" or words to that effect? Said by people who hadn't thought about country and western, rock and roll, rap, etc., none of it completely American.
nice, i have heard a couple of these when i took my son to his best friends home where his father is from Equador.Thanks
You're welcome, cpetersonart3; glad to learn that you're an initiate of sorts. When you say "a couple of these," do you mean these particular recordings, other Julio Jaramillo recordings or similar-sounding recordings by some other Ecuadoran?
Aw, come on Spike..give us jazz would ya? We need something to hang our hat on..Of course it all goes back to Africa eventually..but we (the usa) need the jazz feather in our hat..pleeeeze?
Oh, okay....But any new local concoction that's cooking uses ingredients from elsewhere. Our Great Nation has come up with tons of other genres: ragtime, cakewalk, cajun, zydeco, western swing, gospel, disco, funk, emo (whatever that is), cowboy, Native American. Put those feathers in your hat as well.
Jazz is a big one though! I mean if we invented rags then we surely invented jazz..
We surely did. I have too much to take credit for, so I'll let you take credit for jazz.
I'd never heard of this chap, but have located a nalbum of his on Spotify, and will investigate him further this weekend. I can detect elements of his style in some Colombian tuneage, which may not be surprising given geography.
He has a restraint that can often, as you say, be absent in Hispanophone singers.
Baudolino, according to dictionary.reference.com, you coined "hispanophone." Congratulations and a hearty handclasp!
In my dreary pre-Mog life, there were many times when I would privately wish that my praise of something would lead a friend to check it out, but I have no memory of reports about any of the its being subsequently checked out. I learned to accept that phenomenon as a law of nature. Since my coming into contact with your sort thanks to Mog, my self-confidence and optimism about the checking-it-out matter have been reborn. All there is for me to do re your comment above is to look forward to hearing of the results of your investigations, should the holiday season allow you the time.
I can remember the times I bought albums only because I liked the cover art and they looked as if they might have what I was looking for. It paid off half the time. I have heard neither Julio Jaramillo nor Olimpo Cardenas until your posting, and they are reasons to be thankful for serendipity.
Happy 2010, Charles. May the year afford us another round of opportunities to check out one another's preferred listening. (;
poebegone, the new decade will be chock-a-block full of said opportunities!