Archive for the ‘Flamenco Music’ Category
Rumbadoodle by Nominee Arun Shenoy: GRAMMY® Nominated Album for Best Pop Instrumental Album in the 55th Music Awards.
With the 55th GRAMMY® Awards scheduled for February 10, 2013, it will be exciting to see if the world fusion album Rumbadoodle by Nominee Arun Shenoy is presented with a prestigious music award in 2013. This release with 11 songs is named by a wide range of ethnic styles integrated into every song.
Rumbadoodle is a debut album Arun Shenoy produced from the sound variety of Gypsy Rumba Flamenco music, and a variety of instrumental styles like pop, rock, new age, and world music rhythms. Given the wide ranging diversity it is hard to imagine one defining sound to accurately describe this nominated release but as it turns out Rumbadoodle neatly converges into one exceptional album.
Special note: Arun Shenoy is donating 100% of the proceeds from Rumbadoodle album sales to an education fund for the underprivileged in India.
The 11 songs on audio CD or mp3 are: Rumbadoodle, My Ballad Days, Prance, Rock and Rigmarole, The Violin Song, Fireflies, Blue Sky Happiness Pt. 1, Blue Sky Happiness Pt. 2, Sleepy Town, Wanderlust in Keys & Rhythm of the Sun.
Visit the artist at ArunShenoy.com and find Rumbadoodle at Amazon.com. Album art is courtesy arunshenoy.com.
International Nouveau Flamenco ensemble Luna Blanca is now leading the way to worldwide prominence by their festive new release entitled El Dorado. The vibrant forerunner to Luna Blanca’s new album was their celebrated flagship album Provence, which in retrospect is, one of the best Nouveau Flamenco releases from coast to coast.
Luna Blanca has ascended to the highest summit as a group, nearing the verge of perfection with their elite signature song melodies that have carried them to international acclaim on every continent.
This time around Luna Blanca intensifies their musical fortitude by moving Nouveau Flamenco music to new elevations, where no artists before them have reached. The highest latitude of earlier success may be due in part to a precise focus on producing energetic song melodies. Created with true passion, it’s only natural Luna Blanca’s vibrant flamenco music appeals to a broad multicultural audience.
The Germany based band Luna Blanca, who regularly perform live concerts, have reached international prestige over the past decade and duly earned their reputation as one of the most popular Nouveau Flamenco music ensembles worldwide. The cosmopolitan sound qualities heard in El Dorado express the diverse ethnicity of Nouveau Flamenco with classic sophistication and grace, yet the sunny casual atmosphere is the greatest defining characteristic of Luna Blanca.
El Dorado is a remarkable new flamenco album by the straightforward presentation of Luna Blanca, and the inherent qualities of artisanship that first began their rise to popularity. It is clear to me that Luna Blanca has their fingers placed on the pulse of today’s popular Nouveau Flamenco music style.
Masterful in this new flamenco music release, founding band member and guitarist Richard Hecks, and co-composing pianist Helmut Graebe, select world-class musicians like brilliant rhythm guitarist Bino Dola, and Clemens Paskert, a dazzling performer on bass guitar, percussion and second part keyboards.
Luna Blanca clearly has a new reason to celebrate in 2012 with the release of their new El Dorado album. When taking into consideration the Top 10 radio chart success, glowing reviews and accolades given to Provence the past year, it’s as if their time for festive celebration is never ending with each passing year.
Luna Blanca has produced an exhilarating new wave of excitement with this new project in 2012 which nearly guarantees El Dorado will be one of the best and most talked about Nouveau Flamenco music albums during the year 2012 and beyond.
I can picture another year of honors and tributes, again with all glasses raised in a goodwill toast to Luna Blanca. Cheers!
Visit LunaBlancaMusic.com. Find the soon to be released El Dorado at the Luna Blanca music store, or at Amazon.com. Read about their Provence album on my page for Luna Blanca. Photos are courtesy lunablancamusic.com.
Nouveau Flamenco ensemble Luna Blanca has a new reason to celebrate the year 2012. So do fans of the Bocholt Germany based band, who admire Luna Blanca, a fine group recognized for their energetic song melodies backed by lively drumbeat world rhythms. This spring is the season opener for Luna Blanca’s exciting new Flamenco release El Dorado.
Luna Blanca is releasing El Dorado on the heels of their highly prized release Provence, which climbed the online radio charts to earn the # 7 position on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airplay Charts for October 2010. The 12 songs on Luna Blanca’s Provence also received award nomination in the ZMR Annual Music Awards in two categories of Best Instrumental Album (Acoustic) and Best World Album.
El Dorado is a new album in 2012 representing the inherent music qualities that first began their rise to fame and admiration as a Nouveau Flamenco ensemble, but in a more pronounced instrumental variety. After listening to some songs from El Dorado, I can say the songs I listened to are comparable to their best songs from the Provence album. Recently I had the privilege of writing the CD inside cover text for Luna Blanca’s El Dorado album, so an exclusive, pre-release album review for El Dorado will be published in a few days here at New Age Music World.
The group Luna Blanca is made up of founder Richard Hecks (lead guitar) and co-composer Helmut Graebe (piano). Contributing artists are Bino Dola (rhythm guitar, 2nd part lead guitar) and Clemens Paskert (bass, percussions, second part keyboards). Springtime is not too far away, so look for new songs from Luna Blanca in 2012. Simply stated, El Dorado is Luna Blanca’s newest prize Nouveau Flamenco album that will be available as a CD album and new song downloads at their online store or at iTunes.
Watch the song video of Desperado (Church Bell Mix), and join the over 35,000 people who have viewed the official song video in less than a month. The Desperado (Church Bell Mix) song video also feature artistic paintings that are often on exhibit during their live concerts. The 13 songs on Luna Blanca’s new Flamenco album are El Dorado, Los Ojos, Obsession, Desperado, Kolibri, Dreaming, Summer Breeze, Dos Guitarras, Guapa, Hurry Up, Río Mamoré, Puesta del Sol & Medianoche.
Visit LunaBlancaMusic.com to sample or purchase CD albums or find single new song downloads soon at their music store or when you visit Luna Blanca’s iTunes page for album and song downloads. Photo is courtesy lunablancamusic.com.
New World Flamengo Jazz is a music category some may not be familiar with, so if you can imagine a sunny tropical atmosphere with an oceanfront setting and gentle tides splashing against the shoreline you begin get the picture. When you combine this imagery with exotic melodies and glowing rhythms you are set for a beautiful day of fun in the sun.
Tomas Michaud from Alameda California has accurately termed the phrase New World Flamenco Jazz and this precise terminology tells a lot, but more importantly it is about the sensations you feel and the affirmative imagery acquired from his world blend of contemporary instrumentals and Latin acoustic guitar designs in new World Fusion music. These elements are also the fine attributes that create a new category of music from his various contemporaries like Ottmar Liebert, Govi, or Johannes Linstead.
Tomas Michaud defines his unique singular style in World Fusion having the fundamentals of Nouveau Flamenco, New Age and Smooth Jazz, but with Latin and South American rhythms that embrace Middle Eastern and Spanish music, along with Caribbean and Mediterranean harmonies. This may sound way too complex, and I am sure it is for the guitarist, but for any music aficionado it translates into charismatic melodies that turn an empty white canvass into a masterful portrait complete with colorful designs that are pleasing to the heart and mind of a broad audience.
Drawing his harmonious inspiration from Central and South American travels, the lengthy list of beautiful travel destinations recited on this album include Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, France, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Singapore. Knowing his lengthy list of travel destinations across many continents and categorical guitar inspirations, then New World Flamenco Jazz is definitely an accurate description.
Beauty and Fire has 12 original compositions by Tomas Michaud and it quickly becomes clear his precision Flamenco styled performance on nylon – string guitar is a leading component of professional beauty, but the numerous distinguished musicians in accompaniment is another attractive element that makes this album flourish.
Beauty and Fire ( Title Song ) is an adventurous retreat into paradise by a peaceful East meets West cultural blend and this first song truly does make a meticulous statement about his singular New World Flamenco style with marvelous certainty. Two Hearts Into One & Night Into Day are pleasingly balanced by their relaxing melodies, along with another elaborate reflection carried into the moderate timed but equally rhythmic Embrace In The Mist & Morning Grace.
Deep melodic strides and tantalizing refrains are heard in Tango In Paradise while Gipsy Heart is quite breezy by the casual atmosphere an of accentuated guitar strides shared with violin. Living On The Wind retains a wonderful fascination by the amicable melody that can also be identified by an air of lively sophistication set in motion by magnificent guitar and piano rhythms backed by light instrumentals with plenty of quality percussion accents.
Thomas Michaud has a singular music style is a point I wanted to make today, so when selecting your album purchase at music outlets and you don’t find a New World Flamenco Jazz category try searching under New Age, World, Flamenco, Jazz, or Contemporary Instrumental sections. That is until the day retail outlets introduce a fun in the sun music category.
The musicians joining Tomas Michaud on Beauty and Fire are Don Turney on Grand Piano and keyboards, David Margen on Bass and Kai Eckhardt on Fretless Bass. Strings include Lila Sklar on violin and Michael Knapp on cello with Aharon Wheels Bolsta on Tabla and Thomas Perry, Celso Alberti, and Brian Rice on percussion.
Visit the worldmelodies.com website to sample / purchase or visit his CDBaby.com page and Amazon.com page.
Album art courtesy Elena Ray. Big Stock Photo copyright ersler.
Luna Blanca is a prominent Nouveau Flamenco ensemble from Bocholt Germany that has perhaps become the celebrated toast of the town in another part of the world by naming their latest Contemporary Instrumental album after a beautiful region of Southeastern France, amidst the countries of Italy and Spain, with a seaside boarder along the glistening coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Provence is the name of this admirable new release by Luna Blanca, along with the region of Southeastern France highly prized by a warmer climate, gourmet cuisine and regional quality vineyards, creating the picture-perfect setting for Luna Blanca’s new release that greatly succeeds at intertwining these luxurious qualities of refinement into their own creation of beauty.
Luna Blanca selected the nearby locality of Provence for a good reason since many famous authors, poets, and painters like Vincent van Gogh & Pablo Picasso had acquired inspiration for their artistic masterpieces. After reading more about this region of Europe it became clear to me why Luna Blanca members regularly travel to Provence for their creative inspiration, and it appears everything was well designed during their masterful adaptation.
Luna Blanca is prevalent on an international level and where founding lead acoustic guitarist Richard Hecks, first trained in classical music initiated his crossover to New Flamenco and began writing the vibrant original compositions we hear today. Artist Helmut Graebe is a principal member with spirited piano and organ rhythms and on Provence, Hecks and Graebe had an equal hand while composing their parts along with the instrumental compositions of talents Bino Dola on rhythm guitar, Clemens Paskert on bass, percussion, and added keyboards. Juan & Carolina provided some vocals and guest musician Uwe Gronau is featured on two songs playing organ and accordion.
First song Driving sets the contemporary surroundings in motion for this pretty as a postcard destination in Nouveau Flamenco music and where everyone will be able to perceive their picturesque connection to the region of Provence in the first few measures. Colorful in every way, Driving like each of the 12 songs are unique by their united but singular identity.
Gipsy & Francoise nicely exemplify this ever changing diversity since each have passionate melodies and charismatic rhythms which vary noticeably but interblend conclusively from song to song, representing one of many progressive attributes of this album in entirety. Mistral has a fascinating groove based melody with accented organ and keyboards parts exhibiting many fine upbeat runs in parallel time with exciting acoustic guitar rhythms.
Café has a tantalizing setting by trumpet and accordion refrains among progressive guitar and piano melodies which introduce an alluring arrangement to the surroundings.
Sunset & La Maison Bleue likewise display some great instrumentals plus the dynamic percussion rhythms heard on every song do more than merely lay the timing foundation for band members to build their melodies upon, so it is noticeable the percussion parts are a lively component in the total note by note Nouveau Flamenco atmosphere.
Crème Brulee is an inviting song given the calm serene impression and one that resembles Siesta, where moderately timed guitar melodies with piano accompaniment establish a comfortable mood of relaxation while also conveying at the very same time, a fine impression akin to white tablecloth elegance while the boldly accented accordion composition in Camargue introduces an elevated amount of European ambience by the intriguing sentiment.
Rosé is a song named after the house wine regularly served with the cuisine at local cafés and proportionate to the regional vineyards and fields of lavender, Rosé is an aromatic song for the senses too and while presented in more moderate time, the guitar and piano melodies fluently bring a fragrant bouquet of light ambience to the table.
Cote d’Azur is a majestic song finely poised by graceful half step guitar chords and piano counter melody which paint a romanticized picture of the French Riviera, concluding this song with the sound of coastal waters moving across the Mediterranean seashore, and with everything considered I wonder if anyone could ask for anything more.
Provence by Luna Blanca is an exciting new release, where admirable guitar and keyboard melodies express an anytime occasion for celebration. Together in unison, every member gives a brilliant performance and the spirited festive theme this new release portrays has the perfect entertainment setting. Casual and inviting by an open air sensibility, the members of Luna Blanca deserve every glass to be raised high in a toast of salutation. Cheers Luna Blanca!
Visit LunaBlancaMusic.com to sample or purchase the Luna Blanca album Provence at Amazon.com.
Cover art copyright Anke Baugatz – Picture Copyright Big Stock Photo – klenova.