La Musgaña
Encyclopedia
La Musgaña is a Spanish folk music ensemble, founded in 1986 by Enrique Almendros, Jose Marti Climent and Rafa Martin. The band incorporates various instruments such as the dulcimer
, fiddle
, hurdy gurdy
, bagpipes
, flute
s, guitar
and bass
, and performs traditional music from the Iberian peninsula, mostly from the Spanish regions of Castile
, Zamora
, Leon
, Extremadura
and La Mancha
. La Musgaña means water-rat in Spanish.
performer, joined Climent and Martin in 1986. Six months later flutist Jaime Muñoz and bassist Carlos Beceiro were added to the line-up.
Their 1988 debut album "El Diablo Cojuelo" won the Spanish National Folk Award for young performers and propelled them through the ranks of Spanish music. Their second album, El Paso de la Estantigua, was signed under the Radio Nacional Espana label in 1989.
Their third album, Lubicán, released in 1991 under Xenophile
-Green Linnet label, was their first release in North America and gave them international fame, but later in the year original members Climont and Martin left the band, and were replaced with Cuco Pérez, on the accordion
, and composer, percussionist and hurdy gurdy player Luis Delgado
. The next year they made their first concert in the United States.
A fourth album, Las Seis Tentaciones, was released in 1995, under the Xenophile
-Green Linnet label.
Former members
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
, fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, hurdy gurdy
Hurdy gurdy
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...
, bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
, and performs traditional music from the Iberian peninsula, mostly from the Spanish regions of Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
, Zamora
Zamora (province)
Zamora is a Spanish province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.The present-day province of Zamora province was one of three provinces formed from the former Kingdom of León in 1833, when Spain was re-organised into 49 provinces.It is bordered by...
, Leon
León (province)
León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
and La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
. La Musgaña means water-rat in Spanish.
Biography
La Musgaña was founded when Almendros, a former Irish musicMusic of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
performer, joined Climent and Martin in 1986. Six months later flutist Jaime Muñoz and bassist Carlos Beceiro were added to the line-up.
Their 1988 debut album "El Diablo Cojuelo" won the Spanish National Folk Award for young performers and propelled them through the ranks of Spanish music. Their second album, El Paso de la Estantigua, was signed under the Radio Nacional Espana label in 1989.
Their third album, Lubicán, released in 1991 under Xenophile
Xenophile
Xenophile can refer to:*Xenophily, the opposite of xenophobia.*Xenophile Records, a world music record label*XXXenophile, an American erotic comic book series...
-Green Linnet label, was their first release in North America and gave them international fame, but later in the year original members Climont and Martin left the band, and were replaced with Cuco Pérez, on the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, and composer, percussionist and hurdy gurdy player Luis Delgado
Luis Delgado
Luis Delgado is a Spanish artist, creating music which contains Andalusian, oriental and modern elements. Delgado has made a CD with a collection of poems by Ibn al-Zaqqaq set to music. It is called El sueno de Al-Zaqqaq....
. The next year they made their first concert in the United States.
A fourth album, Las Seis Tentaciones, was released in 1995, under the Xenophile
Xenophile
Xenophile can refer to:*Xenophily, the opposite of xenophobia.*Xenophile Records, a world music record label*XXXenophile, an American erotic comic book series...
-Green Linnet label.
Members
- Jaime Muñoz (ClarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, Bulgarian bagpipe) - Carlos Beceiro (BouzoukiBouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, guitar, bass) - Jorge Arribas (Accordion)
- Diego Galaz (Violin)
- Luis Delgado (Hurdy gurdy, percussions)
Former members
- Enrique Almendros [Bagpipes (gaita de fole), 3-holed flute and tabor (gaita charra y tamboril), dulcimer] 1986-2004
- Jose Marti Climent (Violin, bagpipes) 1986-1991
- Rafa Martin (Hurdy gurdy, guitar) 1986-1991
Discography
- 1988: La Musgaña
- 1989: El Paso de la Estantigua
- 1991: Lubicán
- 1992: El Diablo Cojuelo
- 1998: Las Seis Tentaciones
- 1998: La Musgaña en Concierto
- 2003: Temas Profanos
- 2008: 20
- 2009: Idas y Venidas
External links
- La Musgaña official website
- [ La Musgaña at Allmusic]