This discography is from The Rough Guide to World Music (Volume 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East)
CD = recommended first buy
cd = compact disc
t = tape only
v = vinyl only
Compilations
cd Hent Sant Jakez
(Gam, Spain)
Bleizi Ruz (Brittany, France), Leilía (Galcia, Spain), La Musgana (Castille, Spain) - three groups join together to map the European journey of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela in music and song, patterning the journey of souls, the stars of the milky way (those who make the journey after death) from Brittany through the Vendée and Landes through Spain to Santiago. A superb disc.
Artists
Habas Verdes
Based in Zamora, this is an interesting new group exploring their local music on cavaquinho, zanfona, rabel, dulzaìna, pipes and more.
cd En el jardin de la yerba buena
(Gam, Spain)
Habas Verdesí debut disc has established quite a reputation for the band.
Kepa Junkera
The virtuoso accordion player of Basque trikitrixa is unusual for achieving success while not being a native Basque speaker.
cd Bilbao 00:00 Hr
(Resistencia, Spain)
The trikitrixa ace successfully collaborates with veteran Basques Oskorri, Portuguese singer Dulce Pontes, The Chieftainsí Paddy Maloney, Swedes Hedningarna and Madagascarís Justin Vali.
Leilía
All-women group LeilÌa are reviving the Galician rural tradition of pandeireta (women tambourine players) and their repertoire of dance songs, many with double-entendre. A band with great energy and sense of innovation.
cd Leilía Exuberant
(Discmedi, Spain)
A disc of jotas, muineiras and mazurcas, with the original six women joined by various guests including the six-man Pandeiromus group.
Lluís Llach
Llach is a key singer of Catalan nova canáo (new song) who has succesfully moved from embodying the spirit of opposition to Franco to success with new themes and audiences in the 1990s.
CD Ara, 25 anys en directe
(Picap, Spain)
Rivaling Bonet, this is a concert celebrating twenty-five years in the music business. It includes most Llach classics and many love songs, celebrating jazz-rock influences while still producing songs of integrity with a political conscience, rooted in the Catalan way of life.
Llan de Cubel
A band headlining the Celtic movement in Asturias with challenging versions of traditional music.
cd L'otru llaou del temps
(Fono Astur, Spain)
A lively introduction to this exciting group.
Maria del Mar Bonet
The Mallorca Maria del Mar Bonet celebrated thirty years singing in 1997, and continues to go from strength to strength.
CD El cor del temps
(Picap, Spain)
A superb live recording of Bonetís 30 Years anniversary concert held in Barcelonaís Palau San Jordi for a public of 14,000, with guests Serrat, Llach, Martirio, Ensemble de Musique Traditionnelle de Tunis, Paco Cepero, Lautaro Rosas, Nena Venetsanou, Joan Ramon Bonet.
Milladoiro
Galiciaís band extraordinaire with many years experience of pioneering the Gallego sound on a multiplicity of pipes and other instruments.
CD As fadas de estraño
(Green Linet, US)
Recorded live in April 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to an audience including many Argentine-Gallegos. A brilliant set of invigorating tunes and rhythms.
Carlos Nuñez
Galicia's - and Spain's - foremost bagpiper and flautist, Nuñez has a feel for the diaspora of Spanish and Galician music reaching to Cuba and back.
CD A Irmandade das Estrelas
(Ariola, Spain)
A superb disc of lively and moving melodies with a great band and terrific arrangements, this established Nuñez's potential for worldwide fame.
Ruper Ordorika
Ordorika is a Basque singer-songwriter with a fine ear for language and melody who embraces rock influences.
cd Hiru Truku
(Nuevos Medios, Spain)
An excellent introduction to this poetic songwriter.
Oskorri
Oskorri are the Basque countryís essential folk group, forging a clear musical identity for themselves at home and abroad over the past couple of decades.
cd Badok Hamahiru
(Elkar, Spain)
Just one of Oskorri's many excellent discs.
Port-Bo
Port-Bo are one of several Costa Brava groups singing the surviving habanera tradition which links these Catalonian fishing villages with Cuba.
cd Arrel de tres and Canela y Ron
(Picap, Spain)
Celebrated in annual festivals held on the beaches of Catalonia these are old and new, mostly romantic habaneras.
María Salgado
One of mainland Spain's most interesting, contemporary singer-songwriters.
WITH UXIA AND RASHA
cd La Sal De La Vida
(NubaNegra, Spain)
Castilian Marìa Salgado, Galician Uxia and Sudanese singer Rasha come together to sing their own traditions and exchange songs.
Joan Manuel Serrat
Serrat is one of Spain's key singer-songwriters with a huge international following in Spain and Latin America.
cd Nadie es perfecto
(Ariola, Spain)
A 1994 live album that found Serrat in exuberant, serenading form.
cd El gusto es nuestro
(Ariola, Spain)
Ana Belèn, Miguel Rìos, Vìctor Manuel, Joan Manuel Serrat: four of Spains's top singers joined together for an exciting world tour with songs including stunning covers of American 1960s rockers, revealing their true eclecticism.
Tapia Et Leturia
This is a Basque trikitrixa duo - the masters of the genre, carrying on and revitalising the tradition.
cd Nueva Etiopia
(Colleccion Lcd el Europeo, Spain)
Sub-titled 'Songs, Conversations and Poems', this is an exciting collaboration, with texts by Basque and Spanish national prize-winning author, poet and lyric writer Bernardo Atxaga. Music from Tapia, Leturia, folk-rocker Ruper Ordorika, giant Basque singer Mikel Laboa, Itoiz and Gari. Inspiring medieval troubadour music.
