Tierra Lejana

About the Artist
The Dominican Republic is home to an extraordinarily rich musical culture which is still relatively unknown to outsiders. The island's guitar music, merengue, bachata and son, are quite different from the commercial orchestral merengue and salsa which most listeners have been exposed to. Uba's style of music has its roots in the Dominican countryside; during the 1960s and 1970s it matured in the streets and barrios of Santo Domingo and Santiago.

Ubaldo Cabrera was born to a farming family in the rural town of Guateque de la Isabela, near Puerto Plata. At age 19 he was drawn by his love for music to the city of Santiago, where he lived with an uncle who taught him to sing and play the guitar. Santiago is the heart of the Cibao, the northern region of the Dominican Republic which is the cradle of merengue. When Uba speaks of the city as it was in the 1970s, he describes a culture where music thrived. "At that time, someone could go to an open air bar, or to a night club, and start playing, and if he was good, crowds would gather to listen to him." Uba supported himself playing all of the different styles of music which he sings on his CD; as a bass player with various groups playing bachata (a rhythmic Dominican variant of bolero) and merengue, and as a singer in a trio which played traditional bolero and son. Finally he came to New York in 1995, touring with bachata legend Leonardo Paniagua. He makes his home in Brooklyn NY.

Uba comes from a culture where the folkloric legacy is still cherished and he gives a unique flavor to his country's music. He has a distinctly Afro-Caribbean vocal and compositional style. His original merengues, "Tierra Lejana" and "Dona Inez", are excellent examples of this living tradition.

Uba's singing is complemented by the virtuoso guitar playing of his longtime friend, Edilio Paredes. Edilio is a prodigious natural talent who for thirty years was the unchallenged master of the style that has become known as bachata. Both intricate and sensual, Edilio's playing combines rhythmic grooves known as mambos into evolving solos. His original yet firmly traditional arrangements give Uba's songs another dimension of richness.

Whether he is singing bachata, bolero, son or merengue, Uba captures you, bringing you for a moment into his world of rhythm and color. The rich tonal quality of his voice "now playful, now forlorn" is a rare gem in the monolithic world of today's pop vocal music.

Dominican folkloric music is hardly known outside of the Dominican diaspora. Super Uba Y Su Conjunto, composed of the best musicians of the genre, is the first band to introduce this music to the world community. Dominican folkloric music is quite different from its better known cousin, Cuban Son (the precursor to Salsa). It has a more African influence- with guitar lines which evoke Soukous and Highlife. Long, regarded by Dominicans as the music of the streets, associated with crime and prostitution - this music is only now beginning to take its rightful place as one of the island's cultural treasures.

Product Description
An album of traditional guitar merengues and bachatas featuring Dominican vocalist and composer Super Uba, accompanied by Latin guitar virtuoso Edilio Paredes.

Tracks:

La Yuca
Mar Y Cielo
La Bailadora
Te Hare Feliz
Tierra Lejana
Magdalena
Con El Alma
Son De La Loma
Amorcito Corazon
Dona Inez

Album Description

An album of traditional guitar merengues and bachatas featuring Dominican vocalist and composer Super Uba, accompanied by Latin guitar virtuoso Edilio Paredes.

Customer Reviews:

Where is Ubaldo?.......2005-12-07

You like House? Metal? Ambient? Doesn't matter. You'll love this CD.

This CD is sweet and savory, quick and soothing - it induces contagious foot tapping.

One of my favorites is "Mar y Cielo." This song transports me from my computer to the Caribbean Sea. I close my eyes, relax, and I feel I'm in love. I'm humming to myself at five in the morning and a nimble guitar will keep the beat til sunrise.

Maybe at breakfast I will have a mojito.

Fresh sounds for the morning drive.......2005-02-16

The test of a good CD is if you can still listen to it after you've had it for a long time. This CD keeps growing on me. The songs aren't so repetitive like alot of Latin music. The music is fresh sounding, and still feels that way even after many listens. Super Uba puts me in a good mood on my way to work, and for that I'm very thankful.

Bachata de primera clase.......2005-02-16

A few months back I got this CD as a gift from a friend and it has since become one of the most cherished jewels in my music collection. As a guitar player and avid enthusiast of traditional Latin American music, I must say that Super Uba is one of the best exponents of an art form reminiscent of the greatest days of Latin Caribean music-- when the crisp sounds of nylon stringed spanish guitars fused perfectly with afro-latin percussion to recreate the passionate moods of latin america and the caribean. With its smooth acoustic arrangement, its infectious Bachatas, and its beautifuly melodic Boleros, tierra lejana, as the name implies, will take its listeners back to the faraway land that once gave birth to such beautiful music.

Acoustic Charm.......2005-02-14

These days artists like Elvis Crespo and Juan Luis Guerra have become Latino radio superstars with slick, export-only versions of the Dominican styles, but Super Uba's all-acoustic Tierra Lejana has an elegant simplicity they can't touch. Merengue's dominant characteristics are a rapidly shuffling beat -- driven by the relentless groove of the guira, a metal scraper -- and giddy accordion; Uba's group plays it with a guitar-driven sound more common to bachata, and tosses in a little Cuban son too. His lead guitarist, the bachata master Edilio Paredes, picks nifty little rhythmic licks and reels off high-velocity solos throughout the album, and Uba sings with a low-key, avuncular charm.

Music that transports you to a different era.......2005-01-31

This is a must have if you have already fallen in love with Caribbean music. Talented musicians that expose the true Dominican spicy and sexy soul. You won't regreat this buy!

Average customer rating:

Hark How the Bells

Manufacturer: Valmark
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Under $7 | Today's Deals | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000009QLO
Release Date: 1997-10-07

Tracks:

Angels We Have Heard On High
Deck The Hall
Christ Child Carol
A Boy Was Born
Balloo Lammy
Flemish Carol
A Spotless Rose
Joy To The World
In The Bleak Midwinter
Carol Of The Birds
Come, love we God
Still, Still, Still
Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella
Carol Of The Bells
De Tierra Lejana Venimos
O Holy Night
Love Came Down At Christmas
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Pat-a-pan
A Christmas Carol
Estampie Natalis
Stille Nacht

Average customer rating:

A Non-Critic Reviewer

Christmas Treasures

Manufacturer: Eroica Classical
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
ASIN: B00003007P
Release Date: 1999-10-15

Tracks:

Puer Natus
A la Nanita Nana
Touro-louro-louro!
Wiegenlied der Hirten
No'l Nouvelet
El Desembre Congelat
Hush, My Babe, Lie Still and Slumber
Als ich bei meinen Schafen wacht
Falade Ben Baixo
Midnight, Sleeping Bethlehem
Quoique Soyez Petit Encore
De Tierra Lejana
Lulajze Jezuniu
Pat-a-Pan
O, Po' Little Jesus
Baloo, Lammy
A la Media Noche
Entre le Boeuf et l'Ane Gris
Dziasiaj w Betlejem
El Cant dels Ocells
Blessed Be That Maid Marie
Las Posadas
'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
Sing-a-Lamb
Still, Still, Still
Fum, Fum, Fum!

Album Description

This is the perfect Christmas gift. "Christmas Treasures" is a collection of beautiful but little-known Christmas carols from around the world, sung by Eileen Mager's warm and clear voice. The accompaniments are arranged and performed by Ellen Brown, using sounds carefully chosen to reflect each carol's culture of origin. The carols are sung in their original languages and in English.

Customer Reviews:

A Non-Critic Reviewer.......1999-11-22

As a non-critic, I feel imminetly well qualified to say "At long last something fresh for the holiday season." Ms. Mager's "Christmas Treasures" is not only a true musical treat it is a great stocking stuffer as well. Thank you Amazon for coming to our rescue once more.