Sun signs

Sol y Canto do Latin music right

by Norman Weinstein

Given the current groundswell of Latin music across the US, it takes mucho individuality for one band to pull away from the pack. Boston's Sol y Canto have done exactly that with the release of Sendero del Sol, their second CD for Rounder. The band's name, which translates as "sun and song," offers a key to their musical success by suggesting a happy pairing.

The group's leaders, the husband-and-wife team of Brian and Rosi Amador, create a musical marriage made in heaven. Brian is an inventive nylon-string guitarist, vocalist, and composer; Rosi is a highly instinctive mezzo-soprano. They have found resourceful band members in keyboardist Eduardo Tancredi, bassist Fernando Huergo, percussionist Renato Thoms, and saxophonist/flutist Jon Weeks. Carefully presenting a range of Latin music styles -- this is a band who can leap from a tango to a flamenco number instantly -- Sol y Canto also bridge the realms of folkloric presentation and show biz, a difficult feat simplified by the presence of jazz pianist Danilo Pérez, the band's arranger, producer, and guest pianist on this album.

For Boston fans who recall Rosi and Brian from the band Flor de Caña, Sendero del Sol will come as a surprise. The new album is jazzier, as you might guess from Pérez's participation. Another crucial change is evident during the disc's opening minute. The Amadors gorgeously harmonize on an original song, "Tambro y guitarra," heralding the drum and guitar, two potent symbols of the European and African influences that have fused to make modern Latin music. Their voices soar against a backdrop of furious hand-drumming for two stanzas. Then the rest of the band enter with full-tilt buoyancy. This dramatic fusion of Afro-Euro elements was lacking in Flor de Caña, who went for a less rhythmically aggressive, more gentle "folky" sound.

The salsa-flavored "Pregonero" is a wickedly lyrical original song protesting Latin dictatorships in a style reminiscent of Rubén Blades. Producer Pérez's father, Danilo Sr., made the trip from Panama to Boston to record the sage and crusty vocals, with brilliant results. Rosi Amador can probably project any human experience -- except a crusty old man's despair about political betrayal. Her sensibility sounds too sunny for that.

Rosi most takes your breath away when she gives her romanticism wide but thoughtful berth. She redeems "Gracias a la vida," rejecting the schmaltzy overstatement Joan Baez has used to make the song a sappy new-age anthem. The song works as a catalogue of appreciation to different aspects of physical life ("Thanks to life . . . it has given me hearing . . . Thanks to life . . . it has given me my heart"). When Brian joins in for the final stanza, the song takes on a different cast, with husband and wife publicly thanking life for their life together. In a show-biz world dotted with husband-and-wife teams who go through the motions of marital harmony on stage, it's startling to hear the real thing.

The 11 tunes offer a fine sample of Latin styles: son, ballad, tango, flamenco, even Brazilian carnival march. Spanish or Portuguese lyrics dominate, but the CD booklet offers complete translations. Brian Amador is a Spanish modernist poet in the guise of a musician: there's more than a hint of García Lorca's influence, or even Neruda's, in his dreamy songs. The album closes with his "Alejandro's Ghost," a magically cryptic ballad. "Alejandro's ghost thought he was dead, but he was only lost and wandering outside his head," Rosi sweetly sings. It's a successful topical risk that few Latin groups even attempt.

There are strong contributions from the band and from Boston-area guests. Flutist Jon Weeks underscores nuances in Rosi's vocals. Drummer Bob Moses and saxophonist David Sanchez imbue the recording with some of the loose feel of a jam session among family and friends.

Musical marriage, like any kind of marriage, requires energy, attentive devotion to detail, and a happy conjugation of heart and head. That's exactly what Sol y Canto deliver.

Sol y Canto play a CD release concert at Jordan Hall this Friday, October 11. Call 536-2412 for info.