BBC - Radio 3 - Awards for World Music 2005

OJOS DE BRUJO (SPAIN)

Full track details

"In a rumba dub style" sang Ojos De Brujo on their 2001 debut album "Vengue" (Edsel). The Catalan collective don't only rewrite a Bob Marley lyric, their whole musical aesthetic is based on joyously reinventing flamenco and Catalan rumba.

Ojos De Brujo appear to have come out of nowhere to win European success. On Sunday afternoon at Womad 2003 they stole the festival and this year they delivered a dramatic performance on Jools Holland’s Later TV show as well as selling out a UK tour. The band may seem brand new but their inception happened in the late 1990s as various like-minded performers gathered around the Ramblas in Barcelona and began to make music using flamenco, Catalan rumba and hip-hop as their three musical bases.

The initial inception of Ojos De Brujo featured Dani Monoloko as lead singer. Dani was also playing with several other bands and after their debut album "Vengue" he left so opening the band's eclectic style up even further: women rap, palmas (the rhythmic handclapping of (flamenco) mix up with hip-hop scratching, guitars blast power chords and then drop in a flamenco flavour, someone sings in Catalan and Spanish and calo (the language of Spain's Gypsies), a Hammond organ lays down a jazzy Latin groove, a master of the cajón, flamenco's wooden crate, keeps the rhythms dancing while Colombian percussionist Beto keeps things fluid. Madness? Indeed, it's an eclectic mix that boils with flavour and energy and suggests a direction in contemporary European music that many others will be investigating over the next decade.

Ojos de Brujo translates as 'Eyes of the Wizard'. It's an appropriate name for a band who attempt to create musical magic. And judging by the results on "Vengue" and the 2002 followup "Bari" (Edsel), the Catlan collective do possess Gandalf's touch when it comes to creating music that has ancient roots but pop appeal.

Garth Cartwright (courtesy of fRoots)

Video and Audio from R3 Awards 2004
Europe in Union concert online
Radio 3 guide to Spanish music
Bari album review
Ojos de Brujo official website

Your Comments

caro amsterdam
lo he visto en vivo aqui en amsterdam buen grupo y me parece que tienen mucho tiempo y futuro todavia para seguieren el mundo de la musica... saludos y muchisimo exito caro

mario, italy
they released a new album "Techari" (freedom in gipsy language): FANTASTIC ALBUM BEST OF THE DECADE !!!! Grandissimi OjosDeBrujo

Polly, 15
I went to Womad in 2003 and they were fantastic. Good music, dancing and entertainment!

Helene Belgium
I love them!

Frank Norquay, Toronto
I just saw them recently at a free concert in Toronto (thanks Harbourfront) - I had no idea who they were and they just blew me away. It was one of those shows that just got better and better. The arrangements and percussion were amazing and fabulous but there was something about the lead singer that was unforgettable. What a presence! She was making eye contact with people and pointing and smiling at them - I nearly burst into tears a dozen times.

Mike H, London
I was approached by two complete strangers in Cardiff town centre one evening who harrangued me in to listening to Bari on their portable cd player, while they expounded the virtues of the album. I'm very glad they did, it's excellent and I really enjoyed it.

Sian, UK
I first heard this band playing in a clothes shop in Majorca, I loved it so much I had to go in and ask who it was, the girl very kindly wrote it down for me, and I traced them on radio 3's womad site - I love them love them love them, thankyou for the joy!

Francis (Lausanne, Suisse)
Being a fan of Manu Chao, I have been going to his associates web site, radiochango.com, and have discovered many groups there. The two that have stood out are La Chango Family (who played here in Lausanne) and Ojos de Brujos. Both groups have the same attitude towards music, the use of languages and life in general and bring a 'joie de vivre' on stage which is hard to match. Manu has spawned a generation of musicians who arent simple clones of his musical style but who believe that music doesnt have any set style. That is why such bands horrify the business since they cant pigeonhole them in just one category. That on the other hand is why their performances are so memorable. The term in spanish is 'mestizo' music and I think it fits. Long live mestizo music. FG

Bo, Arizona
So much better than Amparanoia. I'm not sure why is this group the underdog in the category?! We need more of this and Ivo Papazov as ( different but both artists make me so proud to say I'm an European living in America - a heresy acording to the NeoAmerican code of acceptable behavior)!Soy un Europeo orgulloso! (translation to Spanish courtesy of Babelfish :-)

ferinfo
very excellent

Yana, Bulgaria
There are just amazing!!! I was in spain when i heard them for the first time,, but they are my favorite spanish band!!! I love them!!! :)

mayaI
I love them They make my blood running faster and my heart singing

Michael, USA
An amazing group. The energy of the music is tremendous and wonderfully original. Now that "Bari" is available in the USA, I'm sure that their audience will expand beyond the lucky few of us that found them early.

Richard Dorrell
Worryingly talented. That said, I hope the Awards 2005 CD won't be yet another one flagshipping 'Ventilator R-80'/ 'Tiempo Di Solea' (not in terms of the musical quality, just overplay when there are so many other brilliant tracks on Bari)

Jorge García, Canary Islands, Spain
Ojos de brujo bring new blood to the music. They are one of the best groups I ever heard. Vamos pa'lante chicos, sois de lo mejorcito!!!!