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Average Rating: Rating: - A brilliant refashioning of various Mexican styles Doubtless, the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet, like virtually anyone living in urban California, has had years of exposure to Mexican popular music. Mariachis, rancheras, pop styles and corridos percolate out of radios all across the state -- from open windows and door stoops, restaurants, truck cabs and worksites, Mexican music is a universal backdrop through much of the Southwestern US. For the most part it's considered lowbrow and backwoodsy, sort of like country music was until just a few years ago, and outside of a few enthusiasts such as Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz, not many people in the North American mainstream have paid it much mind. Kudos, then, to the ever-engaging Kronos Quartet, for recognizing the beauty of Mexico's melodies and working them into a new and enlightening tapestry of sound. The Kronos ensemble has previously introduced Jimi Hendrix (and many other "pop" artists) into the modern classical/chamber music canon, but while compositions such as Silverstre Revuelta's "Sensemaya" or Belisario Garcia de Jesus's "Cuatro Milpas" are hardly as recognizable as "Purple Haze," they are, bereft of that particular kitsch value, even more resonant in Krono's able hands. The album opens with a sonically distorted, musically expansive version of the ranchera standard, "El Sinaloense," the fiddles and strings filtered through a tinny haze that evokes the sound of the ... transistor radios that for decades have brought this music to the world at large. The technological homage is brilliant, at once piquing our interest and acknowledging the populist roots of the style. Other standards by famous Latin American composers such as Agustin Lara and Alberto Dominguez are also given a unique, Kronos-y twist. The group has also gathered tunes from several of Mexico's more modern composers, such as Chalino Sanchez and Osvaldo Golijov, as well as lounge music icon Esquivel and rock en espanol supergroup Cafe Tacuba, whose producer Gustavo Santaolalla helped define the album's sound. It's an impressive effort, bringing overdue attention to the serious, substantive side of Mexico's musical heritage... Not that anyone South of the border needed any convincing, mind you... they've been digging this stuff all along! Rating: - Excitement! From its startling opening to the end of the CD, this is a collection that demands attention. Kronos are not easy listening - this isn't a CD to play as background music (and, okay, so no good music should be used as background) - but these tracks are electrifying and I now have to stop this and go put it on again. Rating: - Kronos Quartet outdo themselves! Ranging from folkloric to post-modern, "Nuevo" displays Kronos Quartet's pure love of Mexico's wide spectrum of musical history. From jarabes and sones ("El Sinaloense" and "El Llorar") to reinterpretations of work from some of Mexico's most beloved composers (torch song legend Agustin Lara and space age bachelor Esquivel) and collaborations with contemporary mexican artists (punk-folk-ambient pioneers Cafe Tacuba and Plankton Man of hybrid electronica outfit Nortec Collective) this cd has it all. There's even a tribute to mexican comic Roberto Gomez Bolanos' variety show "Chespirito" ("Chavosuite") with the theme music to two of his most popular characters: El Chavo and El Chapulin Colorado. with Mr. Gomez Bolanos himself and his wife Florinda Meza (two of Mexico's most beloved comic actors) chanting the lines from the long-running show. Which proved to me that the Kronos Quartet trully did their homework for this album. An absolute treasure!

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