Without drilling guitars and stamping feet, La Musgaña wowed Tucson with a different musical perspective of Spain.

Animated and spirited, the foursome of multi-instrumental virtuosos' two-hour set of zesty dance tunes from the Spanish interior earned shouts of "bravo" from the 200 rain-defying souls attending the show at the Berger Performing Arts Center last night.

Everything about last night's performance defied flamenco-drenched stereotypes of Spanish musical culture. For one, the stage was a guitar-free zone. For another, the melodies avoided the plaintive modes of the flamenco realm in favor of brighter, primarilly major-key Celtic fate. And while not stoked with the smoldering flare-ups and jackhammer accents of flamenco. La Musgaña's layered beds of asymmetrical rhythms propelled with considerable velocity and infectious motion.

The group's instrumental arsenal showed how much of history has stayed holed up in the remote countryside of central Spain, and how La Musgaña has opened the repertoire to a contemporary approach. Bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy from the medieval world mingled with accordions of the 19^th century and wooden flutes joined an assortment of hand percussion from seashells to castanets (on one tune only).

One of the dominant instruments featured was "gaita charra y tamboril" or pipe (a three holed flute) and tabor (a small drum roughly a foot high and of equal diameter, with a leather string on the head to make it buzz)- another throwback to medieval/renaissance times. With the drum slung from his left forearm, Enrique Almendros tapped out complex rhythms on the head and body of the drum using a thick, tapering wooden stick. At the same time his left hand snapped vibrant, heavily ornamented, interlocking melodies tightly into the rhythmic fabric.

Like Celtic music and tunes from the ancient world, the emphasis was on unison rather than harmonized treatment of the melodies.

Clarinet, flute ad accordion player Jaime Muñoz kept the crowd howling throughout with his hilarious deadpan commentary. This group needs to come back soon.

Daniel Buckley