Search - Silvio Rodriguez :: Descartes

A masterpiece of melancholy

Marco Antonio Gonzales | Mexico City | 03/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a matter of fact, the exact description of this record is this: it's a masterpiece!. Sure, if your idea of excellent music in spanish are the early records of Ricky Martin, well buddy... I got news for you: you're reading the wrong review.
Silvio Rodriguez's works belongs to another level, a very high one indeed; a fundamental piece of the "Nueva Trova Cubana" (next to another master: Pablo Milanes), the path follow by Silvio isn't exempt of controversy, mostly by his renuence to directly censure Fidel Castro, despite the fact that, in several of his best songs Silvio advocates human rights and strong social issues. But I think it's pretty safe to affirm that Silvio Rodriguez's main love it's Cuba, followed very close by Latin America, with all his people, landsights, handcrafts, problems, feelings... (hear him and name it).
This record, named after a street (like the Beatles's Abbey Road), it's focused about one feeling: melancholy, in his several ways: the lost dreams, the absent love (or simply love), the favorite toy, a fallen poet, some ancient ruins, and life itself, among other ways that melancholy often choose to reveal himself. With a personal preference for songs like: "En busca de un sueño", "Romanza de la luna, "Por todo tiempo, por todo espacio", "Las ruinas" and "Esta es la vida" (why?, my own melancholy perhaps...), I must say that all letters (all written by Silvio Rodriguez) are very good, with a strong sense of deepness and intensity, always with a message, a thought, to tell. The singing, also by Silvio Rodriguez, it's superb, with his peculiar and unforgettable voice. The music it's very simple, mostly guitars and "claves", but it's also very beautiful, worthy of the letters, and played by great musicians with great skill (Silvio itself between them).
This is a record to play it many times, as many as you wish, and you would hear or think something new every time; perhaps the first time you hear it you will find it a little boring (that happened to me!), but you should have a little bit of patience with it, and you will have an excellent record to listen for the times to come.
P.D. If you are learning, or likes, the spanish language, this record it's ideal for you, the spanish pronunciation it's very good, a plus for you."