Kimbajei

CIM7007 2001-01-01

Track List

Kumbajei - 3:01
Baisabi - 4:48
Ya Vendran - 5:41
Mama Ella - 4:44
Letania - 4:05
Saquemos Al Sol - 2:53
Leyenda Congo - 4:20
Oxumare - 4:24
An Ale - 3:47
Juana La Loca - 5:38
Arrullo De Agua Pa' Solei - 3:28
La Napa - 1:34

Musicians

Jose Perez - choir, chorus
Udu - tambur
David Almengod - conga
Rafa - choir, chorus
José Luis - percussion
Bolivar Gomez - harmonica
Adalgisa Pantaleon - choir, chorus
Juan Solares - choir, chorus
Edwin Sanchez - choir, chorus
Jose Flete - trombone
Carlos González - trombone
Alfio Lora - keyboards
Raul Sanchez - band
Carlos Estrada - saxophone
Xiomara Fortuna - main performer

Don't be fooled by the photograph of a mulata with a shaved head on the cover. Xiomara Fortuna is nota timba/u-turn salsa singer from Havana. Instead, she is a Dominican singer/songwriter with multiple stylistic personalities on a mission from the Almighty: To rescue and update a variety of forgotten rhythms and neglected styles from the island formerly known as Hispaniola (saranduga, carabine, petro, congo de Villa Mella, etc.), which had been virtually exterminated by the overwhelming popularity of merengue (General Trujillo's favorite dance) and bachata (the most successful overseas byproduct of Miguel Matamoros' bolero-son).

Surrounded by some of Santo Domingo's top musicians and arrangers, the 42-year old native of Monte Cristi displays her ever-flexible contralto through an entirely original repertoire, mixing the abovementioned native forms with nurturing non-Dominican influences drawn from jazz, rock, blues, reggae, soukous, trova and even Loiza Aldea-style bomba. One does not have to be an astrologer to predict that the esthetic development of Dominican music will be inexorably linked to the artistic good fortune of Xiomara Fortuna