Search - Hermanas Segovia :: Punaladas De Amor

I couldn't let this cd sit here without a glowing review

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 02/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is in the running for my personal "favorite cds I bought in 2005". Not much has changed since the last time I reviewed a cd from Mexico... in other words I still don't know much about latin music in general or any of the various musics of Mexico in particular. You'd be better off being able to read a review written by an expert, but instead you get one written by someone barely qualified to be an amateur listener.



From the liner notes, this was recorded in the late '40s and early '50s and is in a (then) new style that was emerging near the Texas-Mexico border. I guess small orchestras were being pushed to the wayside by this sound... vocal duos with button accordion and bajo sexto accompaniment (no I don't know what that word means).



I love this cd. The sisters have incredible voices! There's nothing I can say here that will do justice to these singing sisters. When I listen to this, I usually put my receiver on the "arena" setting which gives this disc the feel of coming through a loud-speaker high on a pole at some sort of festival or street-fair. You can almost see the people and smell the foods as the sisters' voices reverberate against the cantina.



I don't have many latin cds in general, and only a total of 2 from Mexico so I can't compare and contrast this to other discs but I think this cd is fantastic. I totally like the other one I reviewed but this one kills that one. Aurelia, Sara and Lucita Segovia are forgotten treasures of delicate strength (!) and the accordion playing here is just as enjoyable (though much different, of course) as that of the album from Reunion Island I reviewed a few days ago.



My only complaint about this album is that it's only like 35 minutes long. Considering that I think it's a compilation rather than just a reissue of something that was an "official album" at some point, the music that's here is fantastic, I just wish there were more of it."