Maria Rodés

The first of a couple of posts featuring artists who 'cantante en español' and who have also released two of the finest albums of last year. Despite being born on separate continents, they share a similar musical methodology, weaving folk and indigenous rhythms into contemporary indie-pop, and using their art as a platform to highlight, promote and empower women everywhere…

Catalan singer-songwriter Maria Rodés' album "Eclíptica" was one of my albums of 2018 and her latest album, "Lilith" will deservedly appear in this year's reckoning. Taking its name from Adam's first wife, the woman who left both the Garden of Eden and her husband rather than be subservient to him. For daring to demand equality, she has been - literally - damned for eternity and cast as a witch or demon, or so - coincidently - male scholars and writers of the time would have you believe… Over the album's nine tracks, Maria reimagines this myth from a feminist viewpoint, to illustrate how strong, independent females have historically been viewed with malevolent suspicion, which at its peak lead to the witch-hunts of the 15th to early-18th centuries and has never really ended, persisting in several different guises to this very day. Here she has crafted an album which is as comfortable exploring the mythology and musical roots of the past as with those of the contemporary era…

The album opens with "La luna Venidera", an atmospheric introduction to Maria's journey, filled with un-nerving ambient sounds, as cello and discordant percussion evoke images of the wind whistling through a desolate moonlit landscape and from which Maria's honeyed vocals flow the words of Spanish poet Miguel Hernández's scene-setting poem.

It has been said that the devil has all the best tunes and "Carte al Diablo", a love story between a witch and the Devil, does nothing to dissuade me from this statement. Here, thanks to the sound of the charango - an Andean lute - we're transported on a journey to Iberoamérica as a heartfelt Maria declares her undying love through this love-letter. It's a theme which is followed-up by the dreamy-pop styled "Pelo Rojo", with its tale of the love affair between witches and devils. It's a gorgeous, languid song with the most natural of ebbs and flows, and a style to which I find Maria's voice particularly suited. All of a sudden - and to be fair, I experienced the same epiphany when 'discovering' her album "Eclíptica" - I'm entranced by the spell Maria has cast…

One of the highlights of "Eclíptica" was the way in which Maria reinterpreted folclórico to add a contemporary indie-folk twist, and on this album's album's third track, "Seguramente Fui Yo" she weaves elements of both Flamenco and jota tortosina - traditional folk music from the Iberian Peninsula - around a song concerning the rumour of a local witches' coven.

We're now arrived to my favourite track, the cinematic "La Extraña" and a song that celebrates the life of María Sabina the first contemporary Mexican curandera, or sabia ('one who knows'), who many believe should have been canonised by the Catholic Church, but of course never has. Here Maria weaves elements of pre- and post-hispanic Latin American rhythms into the most expansive and soaring of choruses, again opening a door between the Prehispánico and modern eras…

Both "Con los Pies Desnudos" and "Recuerdos de Ypacaraí" take their inspiration from Latin American artists. The former pays homage to the Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni's poem "¿Qué Diría?" ("What would they say?") - a poem which touches upon this album's themes of the reaction to the independent and non-conformist woman ("Would they burn me like they burned enchantresses? / Would they ring the bells, calling to mass?") - and which again incorporates the rhythms of Latin American folclórico, this time building around a slow waltz.

Meanwhile, "Recuerdos de Ypacaraí" is a version of a song by Paraguayan musician Demetrio Ortiz, a song of unrequited and forbidden love (thanks Google) here beautifully performed acoustically by Maria. Which is a sentence I can now repeat for the delightful "Oscuro Canto" - save there the most gorgeous of multi-tracked harmonies added… and for or a minute I'm drifting off to the sounds of Abba and "Chiquitita" (confession: I may not have every album by Maria Rodés but I do have every studio album by the Swedish maestros). Actually, "Oscuro Canto" is just the most beautiful of compositions, sympathetically orchestrated and one which enables Maria to serenade me…

The album closes with "Les bruixes tornen", the only song sung and written in Catalan, a language that I'm ashamed to admit my grasp aims to be cursory, but still falls a long way short. Thus I'm immensely grateful to t'interweb for helping me out here. A rebuttal of the writings of the 15th century writer Jaume Roig, Maria delivers a forceful, articulate - even if I don't understand a word - and harmonious feminist speech; a manifesto for this most arresting of albums.

I arrived late to dine at the table of Maria Rodés, but I've discovered an artist with the most engaging of vocal styles, one who expertly contemporises folklore within her compositions and whose albums are not so much a collection of songs, but more an artistic project. Even if you don't speak or comprehend a word of Spanish, this is an album you owe it to yourself to listen to.

Maria Rodés (Website / Instagram)
Maria Rodés (Bandcamp)
"Lilith" (cd / download)