HUGO FATTORUSO & BARRIO OPA

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Far Out Recordings venture further out to Uruguay to record a new album with fusion legend Hugo Fattoruso. After a twenty-year search for the man behind the cult '70s jazz-funk group Opa, Far Out Recordings present Barrio Opa: a new work from Fattoruso and his team of world-class musicians, including the sensational Candombe drumming of the renowned Silva brothers. Recorded at Sondor Studios, Montevideo, the album is the natural development of the original Opa sound, fusing Afro-Uruguayan rhythms, jazz harmony, and heavy funk attitude, under Hugo's unique musical vision. Hugo Fattoruso went from playing in his family band at street festivals around Uruguay, to fronting Los Shakers: South America's answer to the Beatles. At the end of the '60s Fattoruso was looking to broaden his musical horizons, and in 1969 he moved to New York where he formed Opa and went on to rub shoulders with the likes of Ron Carter and Creed Taylor. Fusing Candombe (traditional rhythm of Uruguay) with rock, jazz, funk, and other Latin American rhythms, Opa created a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular, influencing a generation of musicians throughout the seventies and beyond. During the '80s Fattoruso moved to Brazil, where he continued to work and record with Brazilian artists including Milton Nascimento, with whom he composed the World Music Grammy winning Nascimento album in 1997. Fattoruso also collaborated extensively with Airto Moreia. Recorded at Sondor Studios in Montevideo's iconic Barrio Sur district, the album features some of the world class musicians at the forefront of today's Uruguayan jazz scene, including Hugo's son Francisco Fattoruso on bass, Tato Bolognini on drums, Albana Barrocas on percussion, and Nicolas Ibarburu on electric guitar. The album also features the Candombe drumming of the legendary Silva brothers, Mathias, Guillermo Diaz, and Wellington, who give the album its Afro-Uruguayan identity. In Hugo's own words this is the sound of Opa today. The stripped back yet equally rip-roaring trio piece Botijas is led by Hugo's virtuosic piano playing and hypnotic wordless vocals, and backed by an inventive, heavy grooving fusion of Latin rhythms from Tato Bolognini on drums. The shining moments for the Silva brothers' Tambor playing are Candombelek -- a beautifully moody Afro-Uruguyan groove with characterful Rhodes and vocal harmonies -- and Candombe Alto, a carnivalesque track, awash with soaring synth lead, wah-wah guitar, and pulsating keys. - A1. La del Cheche?A2. Antes / Goldenwings?A3. Candombe Beat Funk?A4. Trenes de Tokyo ?B1. Llamada Insolita?B2. Candombe Alto?B3. El Romance del Sordo?B4. Botijas