Search - Mariana Montalvo :: Piel De Aceituna

It's perhaps fitting that a Chilean exile living in Paris for thirty years should paint such a sweeping musical picture of all of Latin America. Mariana Montalvo, whose sensuous voice invites comparisons to the legendary Argentinian Mercedes Sosa, stays firmly within the traditions of nuevo cancion--a Latin American musical style founded in part by Sosa in the 1960s that fused indigenous South American music and poetry in a brilliantly varied, lyrical style. But on Piel De Aceituna, Montalvo shows just how sprawling the nuevo cancion style can be--jumping from the reggae of "Sud Americano" to a gorgeous vocal duet with the Congolese singer Lokua Kanza on "Encuentro" that hints at Cuban son to a reworking of Frenchman Jacques Brel's "La Cancion de los Amantes," complete with accordion and violin. Through it all, Montalvo's voice is enthralling, breathing life into adaptations of Latin American poetry and to her own magical, passionate songs. --Ezra Gale