Clandestino

"David Álvarez offers a cache of the bold, confessional songs of a modern troubadour For this "dream finally realised" he brings together songs composed trova style in homage to his birthplace of Manzanillo, the region of Cuba with the strongest trova tradition, his tierra where his roots go deep. Versed in poetry these uncensored stories of the joys and trammels of love add laúd and Cuban tres guitar, to place their Caribbean core within a serenading Mediterranean sensibility, creating a modern renaissance ambience. Romance and love do not come easy, yet life remains joyful - was it not ever so...!"

Jan Fairley (Dec. 2011)

With this new disc Alvarez locates that Caribbean feel within a broader Mediterranean sensibility, focusing on a string sound adding laúd and Cuban tres guitar to acoustic guitars. This gives the dazzling selection of songs composed over a long period an Italianate, at times almost renaissance string ensemble feel. This gives deep dimension to songs that map emotional life from the perspective of someone grooved into romantic love yet at times finding neither love nor those involved constant.

The sequence of songs works as a narrative of troubled times for lovers. The title track Como la Mariposa (Like a Butterfly), with its glorious serenading melody played over gentle percussion, sees David's voice soar out from a choral weave to liken the history of love to something exquisite yet fragile, "so happy, beautiful, innocent like a butterfly fluttering from one place to another, yet giving the impression that in one moment you might suddenly disappear from sight."

Despertar (Awaken) composed in the difficult 1990s, with its fluent flute lead, marries melancholy with hope and yearning, telling about life at, "one of those moments when the world around you seems to lose meaning, when the economic crisis of the Special Period, a crisis that impacted on ethics and aesthetics, meant hard times for dreamers".

The intimate guitar opening to Desquite (Repayment) sets the scene for a plea to be understood when all about love seems in flux. Its' arrangement sets sweet chorus and then clarinet as partners to the metal of Alvarez' voice as he tells a story of the struggle to share pleasure and pain, to find something to hold onto when one has taken the wrong path.

Desventura (Misadventure) has tantalising guitar references evoking Andean Charango sounds reminiscent of the Peruvian highlands fused with the Mediterranean. It sets the scene for a song mapping times when, "who told me about love? Ay, If I was only certain", when solitude and nostalgia seem preferable to love itself. Then the cool piano of Distancia (Distance), with its flashes of trumpet serenades the "woman of honey" separated by emotional and physical distance.

With its dramatic filmic opening El Alma (The Soul) a song of trespassing love, tells of fears of losing the soul - "tomorrow I don't know if I will know how to sing you this song if I am missing those feelings": just hear that flamenco style plea at the suspenseful end, a brooding cry to 'return me my soul'.

Ella es Así (She's Like That) captures the image of a 'dangerous' woman who, "deserves a song - in homage and complaint".

The jaunty Espejismo (Mirrors) with its beautiful flute lines, was composed by Alvarez for his wife Yilene. He uses his trademark nightingale tremelo to tell of finally leaving illusions aside. Its' glorious chorus seals, "magic inside my songs again",

The plucked guitar and Italianate serenading laúd accompaniment for La Tarde (The Evening) evokes the wistfulness of twilight, a magical time, sacred for when the composing muse appears.

Lluvia (Rain), a setting of a poem by Omar Estrada, patterns a Mediterranean feel for when elusive dreams manifest themselves in disquieting emotions conjured up by the falling rain. Mujer (Woman) with its opening, "I'm going to love you woman although not forever" is written for the mother of Alvarez' eldest daughter, a "fabulous woman and excellent friend". Musa del Río (River Muse), a title with Afro-Cuban orisha deity echoes, diverts us into a childlike world of fantasy and fable, searching for music's wellspring. Trovador (Troubadour) tells a deceptively simple tale, about not being judged by appearances. It marks a moment in 1995 when Alvarez found himself singing in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, with his accompanying musicians where they were almost denied their place to perform. Sanity prevailed as this song bears witness! Finally Y no sé qué pasa (I Don't Know What Happened) is David's shout to life itself: for the times one can feel alone when one considers that one has given everything one has to offer yet not received what one hoped.

Recorded in half a dozen studios including that of Manolito Simonet as well as his own home-studio, we have 15 songs that map emotions, hopes and dreams. It's a bold narrative of having almost lost love through mis-adventure, and then the blessing of having it restored. Ay mi amor!

Musicians:

All vocals: David Álvarez Garrido

Bass: Gaspar De Avila Garcia (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16)

Flute: Loidis Taboada Perez (2, 3, 4, 9, 13)

Piano: Lauren Malmierka (3, 4, 8, 9, 13)

Tres: Yan Hernandez Moreno (1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 13)

Congas: Damian Sayas Casal (1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13)

Timbal: Jose Ánger Perez Perez (2, 3, 4, 10, 13)

Bongó: Jose Ángel Perez Perez (1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 13)

Maracas: David Alvarez Garrido

Piano: Jose Ramon Cabrera (El Pity) (6, 16)

Drums: Raul Martinez (Ruly) (6, 7, 8)

Laud: Roldán Carballoso Gomez (5, 11, 12, 14)

Cajon: Otto A. Cuenca Blanco (1, 2, 3, 4, 13)

Guitars: Dayron Ortega (2, 11, 14, 15), Lino Lores García (7, 8), David Álvarez (2, 8, 15, 4)

Marcas: David Álvarez

Saxo Soprano: Alfred Thomsom (4)

Violin: Willian Roblejo (11, 13)

Violin: Leo (6, 13)

Cello: Lester (6, 13, 14, 16)

Trumpet: Eddy de Armas Camejo (1, 6, 8)

Choros: José Ángel Pérez Pérez (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 13), David Álvarez Garrido (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 13), Yan Hernández Moreno(1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 13), Loidis Taboada Pérez (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 13), Gaspar De Ávila García (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 13)

All songs composed and arranged by David Álvarez Garrido (except No.1 which is composed by Eduardo Sosa) and published by Tumi Music (editorial) Limited