Un Fuego de Sangre Pura: Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto from Colombia

Album Review

Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto has been a vital Colombian group since the 1930s, though naturally their membership has changed between then and the recording of this CD in 2003 and 2005. Though the personnel and instrumentation changes to some degree throughout this 14-track disc, the music's constantly built around two gaitas (or duct-flutes), a maraca, and three drums, as well chant-like vocals. The performances have a ritualistic, insistently rhythmic feel, and while it's not exactly raw, it has a more unrefined and to some degree rustic aura than much indigenous world music. And like many folkloric documents on Smithsonian Folkways, it's not so much something to pick apart track by track as appreciate in the totality of the mood created over its 52 minutes. That's because the performances often sound similar to the ears of those not attuned to the style's nuances. But almost anyone should be able to appreciate the plaintively appealing strains of the gaitas and enjoy the propulsive and varied beats, which can sound like a mix between Latin and African folk forms.