When spanish folk music is mentioned, most Americans immediately think of flamenco guitars, but the Iberian Peninsula contains far more folk traditions than that. The Spanish folk quintet La musgana doesn´t even include a spanish guitar or a flamenco repertoire; instead the young folklorist/musicians founded their group to play the music of the spanish interior. Especially the tradition of the "gaita charra y tamboril", the three-holed flute ad two-headed tom-tom drum. Gradually the group added electric bass, clarinet ad fiddle, but they still draw their material from traditional pieces played for decades, if not centuries, in small Iberian villages.

On "Lubicán", the gorup´s third spanish album ad first U.S. release, la Musgana effectively contrasts the droning, buzzing sound of the hurdy-gurdy, accordion ad bagpipe against the lyricism of the flute, clarinet, cittern ad fiddle. The melodies are attractive, but the songs get their weight from the thick, static harmonies ad the implacable rhythms of the bass ad hand drums. Manuel Luna, one of Spain´s top singers, is a guest vocalist on three songs, but the instrumentals have a chamber-folk quality reminiscent of like recordings by Inti-Illimani, Metamora and the Chieftains.

Geoffrey Himes