Amazing Blondel took their unique Classicist Renaissance blend a step further on 1971’s Fantasia Lindum LP than on the previous year’s Evensong.
The album’s title track was a 10-section, 20-minute suite (or fantasia) that comprised the album’s entire first side.
Harpsichord, recorder, lute, harmonium and dulcimer adorned lyrics about leafy lanes, lovers and lasses, woodsmen, ploughboys and verdant countrysides, sung in unapologetically English accents.
The phrase “baroque pop” is thrown around, even in this blog, to describe contemporary pop songs onto which is grafted some antique instrumentation.
Amazing Blondel deserves the description–like no other.
Silvana Estrada (with Daniel, Me Estás Matando): “Tenías Que Ser Tú” (2018)
Mexican singer and songwriter Silvana Estrada, winner of the Best New Artist Latin Grammy Award, was born to parents who were both luthiers. She plays a Venezuelan cuato onstage that was built by her father.
Silvana was singing as soon as she could talk and was writing songs and playing a variety of instruments by the time she was in high school.
“Tenías Que Ser Tú” (“It Had to be You”) is from her acclaimed 2018 Primeras Canciones EP and is recorded with duo Daniel, Me Estás Matando (Daniel, You Are Killing Me) who specialize in romantic ballads and bolero.
The chorus:
Ay, ay, ay, it had to be you For better or for worse, it had to be you
Keola Beamer is a fifth-generation musician and master of the Hawaiian slack key guitar style. He’s also the composer of “Honolulu City Lights”, one of Hawaii’s biggest-selling songs of all time.
Moe’uhane Kika: Tales from the Dream Guitar was produced by George Winston and distributed by Windham Hill subsidiary Dancing Cat Records, so it might be mistaken for New Age music.
But the album is mostly comprised of tranquil instrumental versions of familiar Hawaiian songs–or songs that would be familiar to Hawaiians.
This isn’t New Age, but it is World Music. It isn’t wimpy, but it is serene. It isn’t steel guitar and ukulele, but it is music with deep Hawaiian roots.
The title track from Julieta Venegas’ 2022 Tu Historia (“Your Story”) is an exhortation to own your mistakes and carry them forward as part of your life’s journey.
By this time the Latin music icon had moved on a bit from the irresistible Mexican indie pop of her early career to a more measured, mature, reflective style.
Some fans clamored for a return to the early, poppier sound.
This song found the middle ground: sung from a wizened perspective, but a catchy little earworm of a tune too.
Julieta’s real-life friend Maria Yzabal appears in the video with her.
Lyric translation:
You tell me that you don’t feel like thinking about him again His memory hurts so much and how sad it was to lose I tell you: “Friend, wait, breathe, time will do you good You have learned something and you will take it with you, you will see” Let your past be part of you Carry your mistakes with pride
Don’t let the past ever be forgotten, never ignore it Take with you what you were and hold it well Don’t let your story ever be forgotten, tell it again From the first day to the end it’s part of you
There’s nothing wrong with losing, the important thing is to rescue What you’ve learned and you’ll carry it with you until eternity If your uneasiness runs out of a name, you won’t understand You need to know it so you don’t stumble anymore Let your past be part of you Carry your mistakes with pride
Don’t let the past ever be forgotten, never ignore it Take with you what you were and hold it well Don’t let your story ever be forgotten, tell it again From the first day to the end it’s part of you
You tell me you don’t feel like thinking about it again Its memory hurts so much and how sad it was to lose I tell you: “Friend, wait, breathe, time will do you good You have learned something and you will take it with you, you will see” Let your past be part of you Carry your mistakes with pride
Don’t let the past ever be forgotten, never ignore it Take with you what you were and hold it well Don’t let your story ever be forgotten, tell it again From the first day to the end it’s part of you
There’s nothing wrong with losing, the important thing is to rescue What you’ve learned and you’ll carry it with you until eternity If your uneasiness runs out of a name, you won’t understand You need to know it so you don’t stumble anymore Let your past be part of you Carry your mistakes with pride
Don’t let the past ever be forgotten, never ignore it Take with you what you were and hold it well Don’t let your story ever be forgotten, tell it again From the first day to the end it’s part of you
Every Moment Has A Song 