Tu [Audio CD] Los Desterrados

Los Desterrados - 'The Exiles' - are a London based sextet who on their album TU have created their own cosmopolitan take on the rootsy, Mediterranean folk music of the Sephardic Jews. Whilst many people will be familiar with the brass-heavy Klezmer music of Eastern Europe, the music of the Sephardic Jews is less well known. Growing up in the Iberian peninsula, the community was expelled from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. The majority of them went on to found new communities in countries around the Mediterranean basin such as Morocco, Turkey, Greece, Bosnia and France. All these influences can be heard on TU from the Turkish percussion of "El Rey De Francia Tres Hijas Tenia" to the Greek sarki of "Ocho Kandelikas". Daniel Jonas, the founder of Los Des (as their fans affectionately call them), describes their music as 'Sephardic Flamenco', yet within the genre they have created a sound that is wholly their own. Whilst the songs on the album are all traditional, with vocals sung either in Ladino - the language of the Sephardic Jews - or Hebrew, Los Desterrados wield boisterous rhythms, mellifluous melodies and anarchic arrangements that will see them appeal to fans of Radio Tarifa and the Gypsy Kings, as well as the more traditional Sephardic artists such as Yasmin Levy. Los Desterrados: Daniel Jonas [vocals, guitar, oud], Hayley Blitz [vocals], Ariane Todes [violin], Jean-Marc Barsam [vocals, bass], Mark Greenfield [cajon, darbouka, daf], Andrew Salida [vocals, flute, guitar]. Tracks: Avre Tu Puerta Cerrada (Open Your Closed Door) / Morena Me Yaman (They Call Me The Dark Girl) / Abraham Avinu (Our Father Abraham) / El Rey De Francia Tres Hijas Tenia (The King Of France Had Three Daughters) / Tres Klavinas En Un Tiesto (Minnush) (Three Carnations In A Bowl) / A La Una Yo Naci - Debajo De La Rosa (I Was Born At One O'Clock - Beneath The Roses) / Ki Eshmera Shabbat (If I Keep The Sabbath) / Adio Kerida (Goodbye My Darling) / La Komida La Manyana (Breakfast Song) / Ocho Kandelikas (Eight Little Candles) / Avrich Mi, Galanika (Open Up For Me Young Girl) / Alta Es La Luna (The Moon Is High).