Boleromania.

• Author: Holston, Mark

A rich, nostalgic air radiates throughout this collection of classic bolero fare, providing the listener with an uncommon insight into the romantic ballad tradition that has become all but synonymous worldwide with popular Latin American music. The producers of this four compact disc, eighty-track compilation have wisely chosen to concentrate on works from the genre's golden era, the 1930s through the early 1950s, eschewing selections that have become overly familiar international favorites. With the exception of Consuelo

Velazquez's "Besame Mucho," Mark Holston is a musician and journalist who writes about Latin American music for several publications. He is a regular contributor to Americas. perhaps the world's best-known bolero, and Agustin Lara's immortal "Solamente Una Vez," much of the set's generous program will be unfamiliar to all but the most ardent bolero fan.

While musicologists credit Cuban composer Jose Sanchez with writing the first bolero, a song called "Tristezas" in 1885, the fledgling style did not gain strong momentum until the 1920s, when the music caught the ear of some of the leading European and Latin American tenors of the day. The newfound respectability and resulting international attention insured that the bolero form wOuld join the ranks of the world's most enduring music traditions.

Each of the collection's four discs approaches the...