Ojos de Brujo

Five years after their critically acclaimed Barí album, which sold over 100,000 copies and won them accolades world-wide, including the BBC naming them Europe’s best band, Barcelona’s Ojos de Brujo continue to forge musical paths into their vibrant and colourful fusion of flamenco and regional Spanish sounds woven into jazz, hip-hop, gypsy music and other world sounds. Reflective of the eight-piece band’s history as a musical collective in Barcelona, Techarí (which means "free” in the gypsy language) is musically an overwhelming listen with its start-stop flamenco guitar rhythms punctuated one moment by pounding techno beats or scratching and the next by beautiful Latin jazz horns. The album, which retains the same organic sound as its predecessor, journeys from funk to a Catalan take on rumba and Indian and Eastern rhythms, no doubt courtesy of friends Asian Dub Foundation, who show up amongst the varied guest list, which also includes a member of Senegalese hip-hop collective Daara J and Nitin Sawhney, the South Asian fusion maestro. The music acts as a foundation for the ethereal voice of singer Marina "la Canillas” Abad, whose distinct voice soars between fiery rap and punk shouts to weaving a sensual, trance-like state in which the vocals are sometimes inaudible, but when combined with the heavily enduring flamenco-style guitar make for a truly global feel that knows no borders.