Arnaldo Rodríguez and his Talisman band with a new album
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- 11 / 29 / 2009
Arnaldo Rodríguez is aiming to follow the steps he has already walked through. Now he is presenting Mango, his fourth album with the Talismán, which is continuing what he has already begun with albums such as Viste lo que te dije, La lucecita and Lápiz de labio, this one made when he was part of Azúcar Band.
But this is not a reason for the new volume to exclude those wishes of the artist to be in constant experimentation. Arnaldo is inserting Mango, without much doubt, “into current popular music” made by young people.
The idea to make a CD came precisely from the Mango project, a sort of show within his band and which is identified by the public. That is why in the phonogram shows an active presence of the members of the Talisman, in the composition of the
themes as well as in the musical arrangements and interpretations.
“We are talking about a participative CD where Arnaldo Rodríguez is not doing it all,” confesses the author of Tras la tormenta and Tierra de la soledad. The piano player Berta Alena, for example, was in charge of the musical direction of the album. Also, Berta orchestrated together with the keyboard player Juan Bárbaro Pompa, Profecías, that beautiful song by Adolfo Guzmán which was interpreted by las D’ Aidas and which are now undertaking Eilén Remón, Tamara Díaz and Damaris Fajardo.”
In the texts Arnaldo appears with singles such as La maraña and El parrandero where he is preserving those marked intentions in his work to fuse together several rhythms from our region. In his lyrics he is bringing out that dose of humour and
habits that has become a style of traditional Cuban music.
So is seen in El parrandero, where Arnaldo contagiates people with a sticky melody, his voice is leading the history with a rap style and there are choirs following him such as: “Take away that face/ you know I love you/ I like parties/ they call me
the parrandero.”
That group line is maintained by the guitar player Osvaldo Montero (Me gusta) and by the singer Eilén Remón together with the composer Alfredo Felipe, who proposes Hoy a pop ballad on couple relations.
That sound diversity is also exemplified by the tracks of other authors that do not belong to Talismán. This is the case with Ni virgen ni María, by Osmani Espinosa; Ahora mando yo by Guadalupe García and Sergio George.
That is because the songs Arnaldo takes for his albums should be always “original and to tell particular stories.” He says that when he creates them, they may be sung with guitars on the back and never loose its meaning.
When talking about the melody, the director of the Talismán places mango within fusion music that defends festivals such as the Piña Colada. “We really mix things all the time and it is difficult to define a particular musical style. We may say that
the album is a fusion album, but there are titles that appear with well defined arrangements,” he declared.
In Riki riki –a cut that has already been listened to since 2007 and of which the video clip might be seen in the album- there might be felt these melodic concepts that combine several Caribbean styles.
There is freshness in the graphic projection offered by Mango. In the design made by Ricardo Monnar there might be seen the use of green and yellow tones, to recall the fruit that gives its name to the CD. The background dolors form a square that
fits the pictures taken by Ivian Ruíz, who is reflecting in the front line of the photos the premise of not just showing the leader of the group, but to also highlight other members.
Without a doubt, Arnaldo Rodríguez has drawn his album tour and he has been consequent with the aesthetic concepts he is defending. He is, even though he has just announced that his coming album will be dedicated to the Nueva Trova, a genre that has always motivated him. For that he will chose themes by Gerardo Alfonso, Carlos Varela, Frank Delgado, Raúl Torres, Santiago Feliú, Polito Ibáñez and many others.
But this is not the only project in which the musician is immersed. He is also preparing the soundtrack for the soap opera Aquí estamos (Here we are), directed by Cheo González and the actor Hugo Reyes. He has composed twelve singles for the presentation and closing of the novel, the characters and the different scenes.
“I am performing for the first time. I play as fashion singer. It is as if I were playing myself. I have many conflicts and people will love to see me in this aspect, even though I do not play a main role,” he adds.
In those new routes already begun by Arnaldo, which expand his work to areas that have been poorly explored by him, there is also Mango as a reference point, a CD of conceptual integrations and reaffirmations.
Source: Cubarte
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