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Rating: Listening to this album is like diving into a world. Figurative, retro, vintage, call it what you want. Undoubtedly, this first album by Pink Martini is certainly one of the best representations of the universality of music and the passions associated with it.
The basis of these eleven compositions outlines a stylistic refinement but also a formal respect for the highest popular expressions. Initially a small band from Oregon founded by pianist Thomas Lauderdale, an activist who strives to use their performances to raise awareness among concertgoers for charitable causes. Then in 1997, the commitment became a profession with this album that, thanks to the title track, sold about 700,000 copies worldwide. Evocative, as we've said, starting with the choice of covers. The incisive attack of singer China Forbes opens "Amado mio" and it seems as if the ghost of Rita Hayworth bursts forth in all her sensuality, or even Doris Day in a song that could be defined as eternal like "Que será será". But it’s also a fresco of enchanting places and peoples; "Andalucia", right from the title, is a tribute to a multicultural Spanish community characterized by a strong identity. But they move from the oriental echoes of "Songs of the Black Lizard" to the Latin fresco of "Brazil", or the Chopin quotation used as the introduction of "Le Soledad", all mixed in a skillful balance. It's difficult to place them in a genre, too easy to label them as lounge.
Pink Martini is an ensemble of musicians like the percussionist Richard Rothfus who lives his relationship with music freely, ranging from Schubert to Santana to the Slayer. But how can we not remember the vocalist Pepe Raphael, the trombone of Robert Taylor, the trumpet of Gavin Bondy, the bass of Phil Baker (bassist for nine years on tour with Diana Ross and an admirer of the Italian D'Addario strings), the percussion, drums and congas of Brian Lavern Davis, currently a full professor at Portland State University and of Derek Rieth in addition to those of Timothy Nishimoto, owner in Long Beach of «Vino Paradiso Wine Bar and Bistro» and the drums of the Peruvian Martin Zarzar. Then there are also the violin of Nicholas Crosa, the guitar of Dan Fahenle.
Pink Martini today performs all over the world, in addition to "Sympathique", they have two other albums, "Hangin on a little tomato" from 2004, "Hey Eugene" from 2007 and the recent "Splendor in the Grass", all works of considerable depth but "Sympathique" proves to be the most homogeneous in addressing different styles in a homogeneous blend of freshness and lightness without being didactic or rhetorical.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Sympathique (02:52)
Ma chambre a la forme d'une cage
Le soleil passe son bras par la fenêtre
Les chasseurs à ma porte
Comme les p'tits soldats
Qui veulent me prendre
Je ne veux pas travailler
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume
Déjà j'ai connu le parfum de l'amour
Un million de roses n'embaumerait pas autant
Maintenant une seule fleur dans mes entourages
Me rend malade
Je ne veux pas travailler
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume
Je ne suis pas fière de ça
Vie qui veut me tuer
C'est magnifique être sympathique
Mais je ne le connais jamais
Je ne veux pas travailler
Non
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume
Je ne suis pas fière de ça
Vie qui veut me tuer
C'est magnifique être sympathique
Mais je ne le connais jamais
Je ne veux pas travailler
Non
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume
05 La soledad (05:41)
Viniste a m�
Como poes�a en la canci�n
Mostr�ndome
Un nuevo mundo de pasi�n
Am�ndome sin ego'smo y la raz�n
No m�s sin saber que era el amor
Yo proteg� mi coraz�n
El sol se fue
Y yo cantando tu canci�n
La soledad se adue�a de toda emoci�n
Perd�name si el miedo rob� la ilusi�n
Viniste a m�
No supe amar
Y s�lo queda esta canci�n
11 Brazil (05:24)
Brazil, when stars were entertaining June,
We stood beneath an amber moon
And softly murmured someday soon...
We kissed and clung together
Then - tomorrow was another day
The morning found us miles away
With still a million things to say.
And now, when twilight dims the skies above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing I'm certain of...
Return, I will, to old Brazil.
Brazil, when stars were entertaining June,
We stood beneath an amber moon
And softly murmured someday soon...
We kissed and clung together
Then - tomorrow was another day
The morning found us miles away
With still a million things to say.
And now when twilight dims the skies above
Recalling thrills of our love there's one thing
I'm certain of... Return, I will, to old Brazil.
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Other reviews
By Danny The Kid
"Sympathique is a truly sensational piece, the perfect song as background for a lazy Sunday afternoon."
"Rediscovering and making known melodies from distant times and places means doing culture in a broad sense, and this album is a beautiful success in that regard."
