 | | Reviews | | |  SALSA CELTICA
El Agua De La Vida
Greentrax G2CD7010
Three albums in, and just a little more Irishness weaves its way into the salsa-dominated sound of this audacious bunch of latino-flavoured Scotsmen. Salsa music this good is life-enhancing as it is; add the cheeky underpinnings of Fraser Fifield's pipes/whistles/saxes, Éamonn Coyne's tenor banjo and fiddles from Kenny Fraser and Chris Stout and your feet won't know whether to reel or rumba ... best check what your hips are doing!
Primarily written by trumpeter Tobey Shippey, galvanised by the vocal chords of London-raised Venezuelan Lino Rocha and punched into the stratosphere by the 23-man line-up, the tracks just fly out of the player. The title track's pipes loop a reel intro against a latin chorus and pumping brass stabs; skirling pipes, fiddle and guitar open up Guajira Sin Sol till piano and percussion kick in, big brass ups the ante and Hispanic vocal and chorus join the party ... just sit back and enjoy. Winding up in time-honoured Scottish fashion but clad in a hula skirt instead of a kilt comes a hot Auld Lang Syne with trumpets, sax and percussion leading a mad conga line out the door in a frenzy of Cubano-Gaelicness. Irresistable.
Mel McClellan - May 2003
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Folk & Acoustic
