"Maybe in the lofty mansions of La-La land or in the
steamy nightclubs of Rio de Janeiro there is a voice to
match young Perla Batalla's but I haven't heard it.
Pure and strong, her instrument can go right to the top
without wavering and reach down for a ballad like few
singers in this land... No comparison to other singers
seems to work, you just have to hear her to become a
believer... Singers like Perla Batalla come along once
in a great while and in the landslide of thousands of
musical acts can be overlooked. Seek her out and
hear the voice..."
- Los Cerritos Community News
"Batalla encompasses generations worth of
Iberian and Mesoamerican artistry and mystery.
Yet between songs, in a heartbeat, she performs
the magic of cultural crossover and charms the
audience..."
- Topia
"Sultry chanteuse who sang backup for Leonard
Cohen, k.d. lang, and others steps into the
spotlight on impassioned, at times sublime
debut..."
- Billboard
"First there is the voice: an astonishingly rich
contralto capable of stratospheric arches of
unadulterated emotion; a voice so full of
experience it seems impossible that it emanates
from one diminutive young woman. Then there are
the songs: lyrical short stories in deep-jeweled
shades and shadows with an undercurrent of
pulsing percussion and cinematic sweeps of sweet
harmonies; narratives that celebrate the
redemptive powers of the loving heart."
-
SongTalk
Mestiza
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Song Listing
Rasha grew up in the musical crossroads of Khartoum, Sudan, where the Islamic Nubian and Black African musical worlds collide. She hails from a musical family, one of 20 children. Rasha emmigrated to Spain a decade ago to escape the volatile civil war raging between Sudan's Muslim population in the north and its Christian and animist population in the south. Spain is also the home for Rasha's brother, Wafir, a member of the critically acclaimed Radio Tarifa.
It was in Spain that Rasha began work on the critically acclaimed album, "Sudaniyat" (named by Folk Roots editor Ian Anderson as "One of the 10 best of 1997"). This album brings together the diversity of Sudanese music, ranging from Arabic poetry, sufi music and even touches of reggae. The tone of this tender album is set primarily by the Oud and percussion, with backing guitar and bass that magnificently accentuate Rasha's spectacular vocals. Thrown into the mix are violins, accordions and a Sudanese big band.
"I've always wanted to introduce my native music to a broader public and at
the same time not limit it to the strictly traditional themes," she explains.
"Sudan's music is incredibly diverse and differs in many ways from all other
'African' music: it is not as distinctly rhythmic and danceable - even though
it is full of complex rhythms - but puts more emphasis on melody. It is more
melancholic; it sounds downright sad. And even though it is, at a first glance,
very similar to Arabic music, Sudanese music is different - a mixture of both,
and yet unlike either of them."
- Afropop.org
Let Me Be
CD $15.98 catalog# int1103-2
Let Me Be 
Ummi
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Sundaniyat
If you enjoy the music of Rasha, you may also enjoy:
Uxia
Kirile Loo
Oumou Sangare
.
Like Cher and Madonna, Galician singer Uxía only needs one name; people at home know who she is. After a stint as
the voice of the famous group Na Lua, Uxía moved on to a solo career as one of the few outstanding singers on the
Galician music scene. Her latest CD, Estou Vivindo No Ceo , finds Uxía singing traditional
Galician songs, as well as a few from medieval manuscripts. Co-arrangers Nacho Muñoz and Quico Comensaña
introduce her powerful, earthy vocals into a variety of different settings, from tender sadness on the title track to
energetic Celtic music on "Aquestas Noites Tan Longas," piano jazz on "Canto de Nadal" and on to world-music fusion
on "Tua Nai E Meiga." The common thread to most of the arrangements, besides Uxía's distinctive voice, is that they
feature Muñoz's piano and keyboard playing prominently. In general, this is fine; the only criticism I have is an
over-reliance on keyboard washes on a couple of the slow songs.
The lush droning threatens to homogenize the sound
of the various voices and instruments. Luckily, this occurs only rarely on Uxía's album, which also uses Basque
accordion, North African percussion, European violins, mandolins and cellos, and, of course, Galician gaita to realize its
ambitious meld of Galician and other musics.
---Dirty Linen magazine
esto vivindo no ceo
In La Sal de la Vida, three singers seek to celebrate the possibility of grouping together very different ways of coming close to singing and celebrate mutual understanding and the complicity of musicians and performers as intrinsic forms of popular expression.
Catalog # int3235 CD $15.99
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La Sal De La Vida
Saatus (Fate) is an album that could be the soundtrack for both Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and a
Bladerunner-meets-Ingmar Bergman film. The album's lyrics and music, most of which were written
and arranged by Estonian singer Kirile Loo and her keyboardist, Peeter Vähi, are based on regilaul,
or runic song, the oldest style of Estonian traditional music, which dates back to the first millennium
B.C. Loo became acquainted with Estonian folk song as a child when she spent time at her
grandmother's home in a primeval forest barely touched by civilization.
The mix of sounds from nature,
contemporary keyboards and guitar, plus Estonian traditional instruments, such as the kannel
(psaltery), bagpipes, straw whistles, and jaw's harp, gives the album an eerie, otherworldly
atmosphere, while Loo's striking, emotive vocals add an aura of mystery. The deliberate, powerful,
spare "Ristitantsi" ("Cross Dance"), with deep, ominous synth and drums reminds me of the work of
Sami sisters Angelin Tytöt. "Igatsus," a song of longing for a missing bridegroom, evokes a feeling of
sadness even if you don't understand Estonian. Other highlights on this mesmerizing, addictive CD
include a beautiful lullaby featuring traditional instruments and a military marching song. Lyrics for most
tracks, with the English translations, are included.
---Dirty Linen magazine
— Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)
Saatus
Preservation of the Mesoamevican oval tradition through
stories, songs, poems and drama.
Guadalupe Urbina is a Costa Rican singer-song writer, who in a short time has gained an important
place in Costa Rica's musical environment, and has acquired recognition of the quality of her musical
work throughout Latin America and Europe.
Her songs consist of music and poetry. She compiles, investigates and interprets melodies and
anonymous poems. Guadalupe creates new songs finding her inspiration in the roots of her
hometown and her history.
She also puts music to the words and poems of great American authors.
Her repertoire is extremely wide and varied: original songs, anonymous songs and texts from the
province of Guanacaste in the north of Costa Rica. In addition she has created sound tracks for
theatre, children's performances and documentary videos.
Guadalupe's artistic career has enriched over the years. Today she is
well known for her folk traditional research as well as a singer-song
writer. But her songs and poetic prose are a philosophy of life,
inherited from her mother and her native area, Sardinal de Carrillo, in
Guanacaste. The quality of her words and the depth of her thoughts
have opened doors to important stages in Europe and Latin America.
She is able to recognize herself in her own history as a Costa Rican
and Latin American citizen.
"Strength of woman, strength of the earth, passion made song, word,
drama or story on the stage. This voluntary exile is always searching
for a new way to express and create her own dream."
(A. Hernandez, journalist of the news agency EFE, on virtue of the
Gaviota de Ibero-Am~rica Prize, which was given to Guadalupe at the
Circle of Fine Arts at Mad-id, Spain, in March 1994).
In November 1995, due to her originality and sensitivity, she received
the "America Prize", given at Senegal, Africa, with the attendance of
other big musicians like Jossum N'Dor.
De Todos Modos
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