Biography
The traditions of Castile in central Spain live on in the repertoire of La Musgana. The ensemble presents the region’s complete range of musical forms, from dance pieces and love songs to wedding repertoire. The L.A. Times observed that La Musgana’s “concerts are always a lesson in the roots of Iberian history as well as a joyous flirtation with bits of funk and rock.” The same spirit may have prompted Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic.” Dirty Linen likewise noted that “Their sound is a rumble of percussion behind a flood of melody, capable of inciting almost any crowd to move their bodies.” The Free-Reed Review summed up the style as “an enchanting celebration of indigenous Spanish music merged with gypsy, Moorish, and Celtic influences.”
Enrique Almendros, originally an Appalachian dulcimer specialist devoted to Irish music, first encountered Castilian melodies on his grandmother’s radio and promptly changed direction. After locating the musician he had heard, he devoted months to mastering the folk idioms of his native region. In 1986 Almendros joined fiddler-turned-bagpipe player Jose Marti Climent and guitarist-turned-hurdy gurdy player Rafa Martin to establish La Muscagna. Half a year later the lineup grew with the arrival of flutist Jaime Munoz and bassist Carlos Beceiro.
La Muscagna issued a self-titled debut in 1988 and swiftly ascended within Spanish folk circles, earning the Spanish National Folk Award for young performers and a contract with the Radio Nacional Espana label. The follow-up, El Paso de la Estanigua, appeared the next year. After the 1991 release of the Xenophile-Green Linnet album Lubican, original members Climent and Martin departed; accordionist Cuco Perez and multi-instrumentalist Luis Delgado, who also composes and plays percussion and hurdy gurdy, took their places. The group made its American debut the following year. Its fourth album, the all-instrumental Las Seis Tentaciones, came out in 1998. The Green Linnet catalogue described the recording as “infectious, driving music for weddings, street festivals, and religious ceremonies delivered in the form of evocative melody lines underlaid by hypnotic rhythmic accompaniment.”
Enrique Almendros, originally an Appalachian dulcimer specialist devoted to Irish music, first encountered Castilian melodies on his grandmother’s radio and promptly changed direction. After locating the musician he had heard, he devoted months to mastering the folk idioms of his native region. In 1986 Almendros joined fiddler-turned-bagpipe player Jose Marti Climent and guitarist-turned-hurdy gurdy player Rafa Martin to establish La Muscagna. Half a year later the lineup grew with the arrival of flutist Jaime Munoz and bassist Carlos Beceiro.
La Muscagna issued a self-titled debut in 1988 and swiftly ascended within Spanish folk circles, earning the Spanish National Folk Award for young performers and a contract with the Radio Nacional Espana label. The follow-up, El Paso de la Estanigua, appeared the next year. After the 1991 release of the Xenophile-Green Linnet album Lubican, original members Climent and Martin departed; accordionist Cuco Perez and multi-instrumentalist Luis Delgado, who also composes and plays percussion and hurdy gurdy, took their places. The group made its American debut the following year. Its fourth album, the all-instrumental Las Seis Tentaciones, came out in 1998. The Green Linnet catalogue described the recording as “infectious, driving music for weddings, street festivals, and religious ceremonies delivered in the form of evocative melody lines underlaid by hypnotic rhythmic accompaniment.”
Albums
