El Día de los Muertos (2006)

…Robert Xavier Rodríguez’ El día de los muertos (2006), whose playfulness and joy (representing the Mexican Day of the Dead, during which departed souls celebrate with their living descendants) seem to extract the most basic elements of percussion instruments – brightness, forthrightness and rhythmic vitality.

One can clearly hear the breeze blowing in the cemetery, the sparkling bells that awaken the spirits, and a folk melody that seems to be buried underneath the music. It all feels rather like an odd children’s fairytale world, full of fantasy and whimsy, which is Rodríguez’s gift to the listener through his skillful orchestration.

If I told you to sample the disc by going straight to track 4 — Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s El dia de los muertos, then I would be cheating, as this is a work that stands out from the crowd. Based on the Mexican folk holiday, The Day of the Dead, it is the perfect mix of tuned and untuned instruments, its rhythmic drive and melodic invention totally captivating.