All the ooh-ahh flutter over Golijov’s Ayre, or even the recent Dudamel & Co., and then you spot something like this:
Loredana: Marioara de la Gorj (2001)
Loredana is a Romanian Madonna pop-diva clone (here’s a more typical example from her new CD, where Roma kinda meets the Black Eyed Peas), but here shows that underneath her roots are second nature. All props to the Dude & kids, Ms. Upshaw, O.G. (and especially Gustavo Santaolalla, the real mastermind behind the sound of Ayre), but even this MTV-style context should show that the lessons of this kind of approach and energy are already all around.
You said it, Jer. I like Ayre, but the only really “pop” cut is the third one, which is surprising and exciting in context. But that Loredana video just blows Golijov – Ayre OR the Passion – out of the water.
How did you “spot” this?
This is stunning as well, with violinist Janine Jansen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DPD_YpMZivg
Madonna or the Black Eyed Peas could only dream of being as hip as this. My people have arrived… 🙂
Wow… thats hot. Unlike uh… 😉