WOMAD

Martin Morales & Futuro Flamenco

From Peru, United Kingdom

Information provided by artist management, June 2002:FUTURO FLAMENCO SOUND SYSTEM - THE LIVE SHOWFeaturing: DJ Martin Morales (Outcaste Records) on decks and effects, Seffi Munoz (Conservatorio de Sevilla) dancer, Bryzad Aghabeigi (Flamenco Guitar)Basil Isaacs (Congas, Cajon, Bongos).We set the scene with DJ action, live guitar and percussion and a beautiful and highly traineddancer - the first time electronic music and dance beats come together with flamenco. Martin Morales will be playing selected tracks from the compilation - some of his own remixes, some new tracks and tracks by futuro flamenco artists. Martin Morales & Futuro Flamenco will be appearing during the Casa Latina club session on Saturday night at WOMAD Rivermead 2002Information fromwww.positive-mgmt.co.uk/martinma.htmMay 2002:THE TIMESWith Basement Jaxx due back with a second album this summer and South America hailed as the new hip hotspot for clubbers, Brazilian rhythms look set for a revival. Compiled by the Anglo-Peruvian Dj Martin Morales, Discoteca traces the influence of Latin music on funk, disco and electro from the mid-1970s to the present day. There is Paradise Garage anthem Music Trance - a Ben E. King song turned barrio beat by Charanga 76 - the late 1980s Balearic classic by then Hacienda Dj Mike Pickering and the Tokyo trio UFO’s funky, acid jazz favourite Loud Minority. Little Louis Vega and Basement Jaxx also make an appearance, as do newcomers Chicharrons, who mix 1970s disco and Latin with 1990s big beat. MINISTRY MAGAZINETaste the Spanish flava before Ibiza comes back to life again. If there’s proof that the recent ‘Latin explosion’ isn’t just confined to your Rickys, Christinas or Jennifer’s then Discoteca is it. Compiled by Peruvian-born, Brit-residing Dj Martin Morales, it’s a fine reflection of some of the more glorious tracks infected by the Latin bug. Snatching definitive moments like Yambu’s 1975 opus Hippopotamus and T-Coy’s seminal Hacienda tune Carino (featuring M-People’s Mike Pickering on sax) and mixing them with a more familiar (Basement Jaxx, Lil’ Louis Vega) there’s more exotic twists than a carton of Um Bongo. **** Q MAGAZINEA deliciously funky collection of Latino house cuts from Martin Morales, Anglo-Peruvian Dj and head honcho of the Ocho label - the dancefloor friendly world music specialists. From ‘70s Loft and Paradise Garage favourites Yambu’s Hippopotamus and Music Trance from Charanga 76, to a paired-down David Morales remix of Bingo-Bango by Brixtonians Basement Jaxx and Little Louis Vega’s Elements of Life, this spans both continents and decades with considerable panache. **** DJ MAGAZINEMartin Morales is head honcho of the Ocho imprint and a Dj noted for his leanings towards all things African, Cuban and Brazilian. Here he draws on his long experience of mixing up old skool Latin sounds with today’s more electronic rhythms to bring us a collection of Latin tracks from the last 30 years. From old school disco grooves like Charanga 76’s ‘Music Trance’ to the nu school jazz of UFO’s ‘Loud Minority’ and the Latin house of Little Louis Vega vs Blaze’s Elements of Life, his selection makes for an edifying and uplifting celebration of the pervasive influence of Latino sounds. **** SUNDAY TIMES“Try to keep up at the back”, barked our teachers, and nothing’s changed. It sometimes seems that, apart from the unsleeping crew of dance-scene troglodytes who dominate club culture, we are mere cattle, dumbly following the tail end of each passing trend. By the time a song has worked its way to white label club classic to playlisted Top 10 chart hit, the scene that shaped it has long since moved on. By way of a recap, the Anglo-Peruvian Dj Martin Morales here compiles a rundown of the Latin grooves that spawned the imitators and gave the trogs their raw materials. Highlights include the electro-salsa oomph of Debbie Blackwell-Cook’s Changing Up and Charanga 76’s riotous, swampy Music Trance. These days, compilations serve increasingly as mouthwatering pointers to the sounds of the past - and Discoteca is a fine example. VENUE MAGAZINEVarious Artists Discoteca (Ocho. LP) Subtitled "firin’ Latino house, funk, electro and disco", here that most adventurous of Latin DJs Martin Morales presents a top selection of Latin grooves for the house generation. And, in effect, house grooves for the salseros. The fullest marks go to Los Chicharrons (what a way to open an album!), jazztastic Japs UFO and the uber-funky Yambu. Take it to a dancefloor near you. **** (Nige Tassell) TIME OUT 31.01.01As Sheryl Garrat's sleevenotes explain the roots of the music may be hard to encapsulate but Discoteca colourfully acknowledges a sound that has evolved on dancefloors from Africa through the States, the Caribbean and way beyond. Subtitled 'firin' latino house, funk, electro and disco' , Dj Martin Morales links United Future Organisation's frenetic jazz number 'Loud Minority' to Balearic house classic 'Carino' from Mike Pickering's T-Coy. There's also a brilliantly moody David Morales Latin Dub version of Basement Jaxx's 'Bingo Bango', fiery vocals from Debbie Blackwell-Cook, and the sparkling electro-instrumental that is Stephane Attias's 'Brazilian Fight Song'. Sure, we've been inundated with Latin influences - but as long as they spawn irresistibly joyous dance music like 'Discoteca' the deluge is something to celebrate. www.whatsonwhen.com websiteDJ Martin Morales is on tour to promote the hot Latin album Discoteca. Feb 2: This date is in Amsterdam. Latin music has had and still has a huge influence on today's club sounds and dance music around the globe. With this in mind, DJ Martin Morales has compiled an excellent release entitled Discoteca. The album brings together the rarest and most sought after cuts of Latin jazz, funk and house as well as disco, electro, Balearic and the best Brazilian beats.Originally from Peru, Morales studied in Britain, where he began DJing and organising parties. Residencies at Vague in Leeds and Manumission in Manchester led to DJ tours in Europe and the Far East. He has promoted Cuban concerts in the UK and is renowned as a pioneer of Latin-influenced house music. As such he has perfect credentials for compiling this album.Discoteca includes classic tracks like T-Coy's Cariño, originally on the late Eighties dance album North. There is a rare Basement Jaxx mix and New York's Latin vibe is provided by Blaze with Little Louie Vega. Check out the chemical Latin beats of the duo Los Chicharrones and also included is Juan Pachanga by one of the giants of Latin music, Rubén Blades. So get into the Latin groove, move those hips and rip it up on the dancefloor.  MORE MAGAZINEDiscoteca compiled by Dj Martin Morales (album). Fast paced house, funk and disco with a Latin flavour to get your body movin'. Budge up Ricky Martin, this is the real thing. HMV WEBSITE Where the pan-continental boundaries between Ibiza and South America fade, where the lines between house music and Nuyorican funk begin to blur, where the distinction between Afrobeat and disco starts to fade, there proudly sits 'Discoteca'. If there's an album around with as much joie de vivre, as much vitality and as much plain old oomph then send it through, because 'Discoteca' will take it on. Take them all on. Leading deejay and Ocho records man Martin Morales has bought together and mixed down some of the rarest and most sought-after cuts of Latino-disco-house-beats-funkology on an album that is just crying out to be taken uptown all night long. Includes the Morales mix of Basement Jaxx' 'Bingo Bango', T-Coy's 'Carino' and more. Also on deejay-friendly double vinyl.  LAM MAGAZINEThis 13-track compilation had been compiled by Dj Martin Morales and aims to highlight how much of an influence Latin music has had on dance music and some of the cheesy gear we've been listening to for the last 30 years. Well that and entertain. Morales believes that whether it's funk, disco, electro, Balearic, jazz, Batucada beats, leftfield or latin house - its influence is everywhere. For highlights it's hard to go past Dubtribe Sound System with their Samba Dub which is jazz-funk with an unstoppable rhythm at its best. The fast-walking bassline and blowfly trumpet lines that breeze all over Juan Pachanga by Ruben Blades is also unmissable despite its socio-political overtones. Unmissable Latin disco crops up in Charanga 76's Music Trance while from a decade and a bit later there's the 1989 electro-house-montuno fusion and a favourite at the Hacienda - Carino by T-Coy. You'll recognise the piano chops if not the chunky groove. Names you should have heard of also make it on board. There's Basement Jaxx with Bingo Bango and Little Louis shows up with Elements of Life. You should be dancing to this - if you're not, there's something wrong with you.  BLUES & SOUL REVIEWSub-titled "Firin' Latino House, Funk, Electro and Disco", this 13 tracker is one the few current dance compilations that actually lives up to its billing. The set was put together by respected Latin DJ Martin Morales and he's succeeded in bringing together a very varied collection that covers old and new material, serious and not-so-serious tunes, and some big names. The things that give the set its unity, though, are the driving, irresistible rhythms - be they batacudas, rumbas and salsas - and Morales obvious passion and commitment. Among the big names he's dug out, none come bigger than Ruben Blades. His contribution is the 1983 cut "Juan Pachanga" which, despite its infectious mood, is a serious political piece criticising life in the barrios. Like so many South American artists Blades is often forced to adopt seemingly superficial ways to make his point - but he makes it nevertheless. New Yorker Little Louie Vega provides another of the set's highspots with the popular "Elements Of Life", while London is represented by Basement Jaxx with their "Bingo Bango". The cut is mixed by David Morales who gives it a distinct Balearic feel. The other big tune here is United Future Organisation's "Loud Minority" which should need no introduction to jazz dancers anywhere. But as is often the case with compilations of this sort, it’s the lesser known material that brings the real pleasure. I particularly like Charanga 76's version of Ben E King's "Music Trance" - brass has rarely sounded so booming, while Stephane Attias's "Brazilian Fight Song" with its electronic rhythms has all the elements of a house classic. That pairing add to the real variety that I alluded to at the top, and if the Latin scene has already won you over, this comes highly recommended.(RATING 8) (BILL BUCKLEY) MUSIC & MEDIA, 3 Feb 2001EIGHTH WONDER OF THE DANCE WORLDOcho Records has rapidly and deservedly carved out a niche for itself as one of the most savvy compilers of the sort of world 'dance' music that whets the ever more sophisticated European palate. While the now well established Future World Funk series has a mild bias towards the ethnic side, latest release Discoteca lives up to its name by being less ethnic but feircely and brialliantly dancefloor. Kicking off with Chicharron's Conga Heaven Bongo Hell (Discoteca A Go Go Mix), the album then takes in tracks from a range of artists including Ruben Blades, United Future Organisation, Basement Jaxx and Little Louis Vega.While there is nothing on Discoteca that is less than top notch there are, nevertheless, some undeniable highlights. The delicate and suprisingly unagressive Brazilian Fight Song (Modaji Mix) by Stephane Attias is wonderfully cheesy, while the brass arrangements on Charanga 76's Music Trance are as mind-bendingly complex, and as good, as anything attempted by EW&F's notoriously dextrous horn section. Finally, Original Soulboy's Touch The Sun (Latin Carnival Mix) is a sublime, sunkissed song with a poisonously strong chorus, while Lites (Earth Tribal Mix) by The Sun Project, is a shuffling, sexy batucada-based soul work out. Tremendous! TOUCH MAGAZINEWell rounded compilations are pretty hard to come by right now, but Ocho seem to be doing a pretty good job and this latest offering is the best of the bunch. It's not as easy as it looks to put together a set of records in some sort of coherent order, but DJ and compiler Martin Morales has succeeded in compiling a synchronous collection of seemingly disparate Latin-influenced dance music. There's the funk of Yambu's "Hippopotamus", a great version of Ben E King's "Music Trance" by Charanga 76, and my favourite, the imperative dancefloor jazz of "Loud Minority". (BJ) 4/5 WORLD CHILL REVIEWS Blues & Soul There's any number of chill out albums out there on the racks, and sadly a lot of them are very similar. At worst most are overlong electronic ramblings from ex-grammar school prefects straight out of middle England. Even the better ones are remarkably predictable and sadly interchangeable. This brand new Manteca 12 tracker is different - very different. Compiled by Martin Morales, the idea behind the collection is take the chill out concept to another level. Morales knows that the individual cuts here were never intended to be marketed or assembled in this way but with a genuine respect and obvious love for the idiom he's developed his concept perfectly. The tracks have been selected from the widest cultural and ethnic palette imaginable, but taken together as an entity they do, for want of a better description, induce overall horizontal harmonics. Amazingly, over the album's length we can travel from Brazil to Bengal, via Morocco, Japan, the Mississippi Delta, India, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, and Argentina. It's quite a trip to be sure, but the gentleness of the music will ensure you arrive if not refreshed then certainly relaxed. Selecting individual tracks from the set's wrap-around ambience is difficult, but Jolly Mukerjee' Bollywood tune, "Bhatiyali" is outstanding. But then so too is New Yorker Kevin Yoist's mix of the Motofumi Yamaguchi Japanese originated "Kodo". That latter cut, by the way, illustrates the thankfully growing trend for Western musicians to bring world music to a wider audience through their ambient and dance mixing. Other examples here include Da Lata's "Cores" and the Gotan Project's "Vuelvo al Sur". Other cuts are left unadorned but remain. I think, the more majestic for that. Amongst those are Ladysmith Black Mambazo's "Akehlulek' ubaba" which is typical of their style while its always good to hear Ernest Ranglin, Taj Mahal and the ubiquitous Nitin Sawhney. The Sawney cut - "Bengali Song" closes the album and its deep spirituality sums up the mood of the whole collection.(RATING 9) (BILL BUCKLEY) WAX For pure variety and essential and intelligent world chill track selections from DJ Martin Morales, this album has to get the biggest thumbs up of the month. I've been living with this wonderful compilation of 'laid back grooves for global minds' for quite a while now, and I have never grown tired of listening any of the tracks within its wide parameters. The album starts with probably the best Da Lata track from their sumptuous Brazilian blended debut album. From there it high tails it off to India where Jolly Mukherjee treats us to a luscious blend of soaring strings and moody beats (courtesy of the Underwolves). Things then take a distinct Malian moodswing with Rokia Traore, before Kevin Yost treats the Kodo drummers to one of the best New York jazz house remixes of the last couple of years. 'Calypsonian' Bluesman Tal Mahal comes up with one of the finest delta sax experience you're ever likely to hear, whilst Issa Bagayogo, Carla Alexandar, the Gotan Project, and Nitin Sawhney all produce sparkling and strangely intimate sounds. I can't recommend this album enough (and it's got nothing to do with my sleeve notes!) Perfect ear candy for the armchair traveller. PM 9  INDESTRUCTIBLE ASIAN BEATS BillboardIndestructible Asian Beats (Manteca/Union Square Music), another recent release, highlights tracks by some of the best Brit-Asian fusionists including Asian Dub Foundation, Panjabi MC, Singh and Rehmi. Q MagazineThe creativity of the Asian dance scene shines out on an album stretching from Asian Dub Foundation and Talvin Singh to the pioneering 1960s fusion sitarist Ananda Shankar. In between, Panjabi MC offers two step bhangra; Juttla strike a contagiously funk groove, and Badmarsh and Shri remix a superb jazz fusion track from the late-60s by the Dave Pike Set. A good introduction to a music that is finally drawing the attention it deserves.**** Chris Stapleton Rootitooti WebsiteIndestructible Asian Beats (Urban tigers from the concrete jungle) Manteca Thankfully pioneers who have chosen to weave beats into a new tapestry rather than buy the ready made version, the sadly missed Ananda Shankar, a true musical pioneer rightly puts in appearance with 1975_s ÎStreets of Calcutta_, tracks from Nation (ADF & TJ Rehmi) and Outcaste (Dave Pike Set) pay due respect , lots more too including Panjabi MC, Dub Factory, Tabla Beat Science and Jolly Mukherjee. A funky step into the future.  Music & MediaCompilations of Asian dance music have recently become among the most oversubscribed. However, as is so often the case, Manteca Records, part of the Union Square group, has managed, on Indestructible Asian Beats, to find a fresh spin on the genre. Even though the collection includes predictable contributors like Talvin Singh, TJ Rhemi and Asian Dub Foundation, there are lesser known acts like the brilliant Chicharrons, Juttla, Panjabi MC and Jolly Mukherjee. Alongside them, worldclass works such as Ananda Shankar’s Streets Of Calcutta and Magnetic from Bill Laswell’s Tabla Beat Science project make for a varied, original and powerful set.  LA LINEA REVIEWS Netrhythms websiteLa Linea: Future Latin Beats: Manteca MANTCD024 Another great Martin Morales compilation that takes the adventurous side of Latin music developed by musical pioneers like Ozomatli, Orishas, Sidestepper and Bloque. Fusing traditional latino rhythms with rap, drum_n_bass and other contemporary beats ÎLa Linea_ refers to Îthe line_ that is crossed by the fusionists as they go in search of new musical horizons. Pick of 13 great tracks goes to Ben Human_s ÎThe Crowd Sings. My kind of music,an essential buy. Revolutions WebsiteVarious ArtistsLa Linea: Future Latin Beats Manteca MANTCD024Another great Martin Morales compilation that takes the adventurous side of Latin music developed by musical pioneers like Ozomatli, Orishas, Sidestepper and Bloque. Fusing traditional latino rhythms with rap, drum'n' bass and other contemporary beats, La Linea refers to the line that is crossed by the fusionists as they go in search of new musical horizons. Pick of 13 great tracks goes to Ben Human's The Crowd Sings. My kind of music, an essential buy. (GR)