TRANSCENDING TRADITIONAL TRACKS.

• Author: Holston, Mark

Carlos Vives EI Amor de mi Tierra (EMI Latin H2 7243 5 22854 2 6)

Colombian singer and composer Vives, a youthful exponent of the festive rhythms of his country's Caribbean-influenced culture, pays homage to the traditional style of such distinctive regional idioms as vallenato, porro, berroche, bullerengue, and cumbia on this exhilarating session.

A major star whose global popularity has helped bring long overdue attention to a variety of authentic Afro-Colombian forms, Vives stays close to the roots of these venerated styles, allowing only the pop accent of his vocals to add but a dash of contemporary flavor. Wisely, Vives and the album's co-producers, fellow Colombian Juan Vicente Zambrano and renowned Cuban musician Emilio Estefan, have elected to retain the strong, folkloric character of the music. Accordionist Egidio Cuadrado, gaita player Mayte Montero, and a corps of percussionists on such indigenous regional instruments as the caja vallenata, cajon peruano, and tambora venezolana provide a swirl of swinging, earthy rhythmic textures.

The individual tracks provide an intimate insight into Colombia's coastal culture. "La mona" makes use of the term Colombians use to refer to a blond woman, particularly a foreigner, while "El cante" is a veritable catalog of traditional songs in which Vives recites the titles of old tunes like "Llora Joselito" and "Helado de leche" to the raucous backing of a typical cumbia band, with clarinet and trombone. The album's crowning glory is a reprise of the decades-old cumbia favorite "La piragua," with the added sonic color of Andean panpipes.

Patricia Saravia Ritmo de los Santos (Song-o-sau'rus 724783)

Until the emergence and international success several years ago of artists like vocalist Susana Baca, the music of Peru's small Africa-derived culture was a regional specialty seldom heard outside that country's coastal urban centers. The style's unusual instrumentation, tempos, and themes have proven to be a popular sonic elixir with fans of exotic, rhythmically virile forms from around the world, while the music's lyrics boast poetic qualities that rival the best of the nueva cancion movement.

Vocalist and composer Saravia, a Peruvian who was once a member of Baca's famed ensemble, makes her own strong mark on the form in the company of three fellow Peruvian musicians and six of Costa Rica's finest instrumentalists, including pianist and arranger Walter Flores and three members of that country's...