Finis Terrae - El canto de la mulata rusa

 

Hamish Binns - compositions, arrangements, voice, bagpipes, whistles, guitar, charango and tiple

Homero Villagra - compositions, voice, guitar, cuatro, charango and tiple

Germán Ojeda - violin

Bistra Cristova - cello

Gloria Ramos - double bass and electric bass

Robbie K Jones - drums and percussion

 

“El canto de la mulata rusa” (The song of the Russian Mulato) is the imaginary circus that an immigrant girl, feeling marginalized by her schoolmates, invents. It is a world –confusing at times – of diverse rhythms and sounds that unite the colours of the Celtic, Slavic, Latin American and Arab countries, and that are based on the migrations and pluralization of ancient and modern cultures. This recording, produced by Juan Arteche, tries to consolidate the style that Finis Terrae has proposed in its last works: a folk music free of purism and frontiers, profound in its arrangements yet light-humoured.

 

A Celtic, Latin Slavic mix

 

The musical style of Finis Terrae is difficult to define. From when their first CD – Un milonguero busca asilo en Rusia – came out seven years ago, different critics and even members of the group have tried to categorize their music in one or two words, but the only conclusion that they have come to is that Finis Terrae has a very particular and unmistakeable sound and style.

 

The six stable members of Finis Terrae, of varying ages and musical disciplines, come from different countries: Britain, Chile, Bulgaria, the U.S.A., Argentina and Spain. Moreover, for this recording they have counted on the collaboration of the Sudanese, Wafir Gibril, and of the Spaniards, Alba Garate, Rafael Domínguez (one of the founding members of the group), Ruth Moreno, Eliseo Parra and, of course, Juan Arteche.

 

Due to the characteristics of Finis Terrae, cultural cross-over and immigration are daily issues, as they are for the rest of the word nowadays. With this recording, the idea is not to go into such a complex matter as is the social change that we are living, nor is it to judge what is right and what is wrong: this CD simple tries to express a series of moments and feelings from our lives.

 

The history of Finis Terrae

 

Finis Terrae began in 1997 with an advert in a Spanish newspaper called, Segunda Mano, and, despite only having two of the original members still in the group, we still continue to chase our dreams nine years and four CDs later. The group has played all over Spain and has toured to the USA and to England.