"Our music is possible because we are possible" - Silvia Calado Olivo of Ojos de Brujo, Madrid, November 2002
Ojos de Brujo. ODB. (insert fanatic scream lasting about ten whole seconds here)
I don’t have any of their albums (yet), but I was an instant fan. I think this group is absolutely brilliant!
Translated as “Eyes of the Warlock,” Ojos de Brujo is a collective of
young (and radical) Spanish musicians based in Barcelona. They use
flamenco as a foundation for their cross-genre experimentation -
infusing elements of hip-hop, funk, salsa, and reggae. Then throw in
some electronica and Barcelona street sounds too. Sound impossible?
Listen
here and tell me that it doesn’t work. Because it DOES work, and surprisingly well.
They’re called noveau flamenco by some. But ODB calls their brand of
music "Jip Jop Flamenkillo" which they claim is “a sound that catapults
flamenco into the 21st century without losing any of the power or
passion of the music's roots.”
Oh so true. There is a dynamism there – the intricate guitarwork, the
percussions, the impassioned vocals - so infectious that you want to
jump up and dance! Or at the least, sing along! When I first downloaded
Tiempo de Solea,
I couldn’t get enough of it and played it for at least five times
straight. In our iPOD, it got its major long play treatment in the car
when we were stuck in horrendous traffic to watch New Year fireworks.
It’s pretty difficult to remain crabby for 3 hours when you hear ODB!
I’ve been semi-singing-humming the song Tiempo de Solea for a few days,
and Dui has been going “tio-tio VAN, tio-tio VAN VAN VAN” during her
morning showers too that its becoming silly!
As in all my dabblings in world music, I got my first taste of Ojos de
Brujo from Putumayo.
Vacileo (“A Good Time”) is a danceable song that
has strong Latin flavors and declares that:
“Oh, I am cured by rumba / That’s how I have a good time …”
Tesoro (“Treasure”), meanwhile, is slower and quite subdued in
comparison. It has romantic introductory guitarwork. The lyrics are
quite bizarre (“Your face is a fish when you have fun” – err,
romantic?) and incorporates local slang (“Donderei donerara”). These
aside, you could fall in love to this song. Hubby and I dance this
sometimes during our “feeling Latin dancers” moods.
As a sidebar, Ojos de Brujo has a grassroots and anti-corporate
philosophy. While the music is in the forefront, ODB is not merely
about music. They are a loose collective of various artists - graffiti,
multimedia, designers, filmers, among others. "I don't want to say we
belong to a political party," says Xavi, the group’s percussionist. "We
don't like those kind of associations. We do believe in doing things
for ourselves, in controlling our own productions, in being free and
having a social commitment, trying to do something to make this a
better world… and in this sense we maybe also a little political, since
politics are also social." In fact, they released their album overseas
through their own production company, La Fábrica de Colores (now
Diquela Records).
So it’s no wonder then that in my quest to own my own ODB record, I
have come up dry. I have found nada in all the music bars here in the
Philippines. So I have had to settle for the smattering of songs in the
Putumayo albums.
It seems that ODB is
making waves in the UK market,
generating an almost fanatical bunch of groupies. Makes me wonder if I
may be a lone fan in the Philippines. I hope not, because if you have a
full ODB album, I would probably scratch your eyes out to at least
borrow it!
My next project is to learn some more Spanish so I can at least sing along to them and not feel like an oaf.
Mini-research from:
Ojos de Brujo website
Calabash Music
Liner notes of
Putumayo Presents Rumba Flamenco
