Robin Denselow 

Amparanoia, Rebeldia Con Alegria

(EMI/Capitol)
  
  

Rebeldia Con Alegria

If this doesn't become one of the unexpected hits of the summer, it's not because Amparanoia aren't trying. A rousing live band, they are appearing both at Womad and the Cambridge Folk festival over the next few weeks, and promise to be one of the festival successes of the summer.

This first British release, compiled from their last four albums, and with a few new tracks added in, shows what this Spanish-Cuban band can do. Led by the sassy and jovial singer Amparo Sanchez, they mix Cuban rhythms with Mexican trumpet work and east European violin, in a good-natured global pop package worthy of Sanchez's friend Manu Chao.

Singing in Spanish, French and English, the eclectic and at times brash and bombastic Ms Sanchez covers anything from slinky ballads, performed with Calexico, through to a jazzy treatment of the Cuban favourite Dos Gardenias, and a cheerful political anthem that explains the album title, Revolution With Fun. This is why the globally influenced new Euro-pop is so entertaining.

 

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