Anima Mundi - Jagannath Orbit (2008)

Y que mejor que isfrutar del mejor progresivo cubano con toda la magia de Anima Mundi, dando mustras de su excelente rock sinfónico. Sandy nos resubo uno de sus maravillosos discos, disfruten de esta hermosura hecha sonido, disco que teníamos caído hace mucho tiempo.

Artista: Anima Mundi
Álbum: Jagannath Orbit
Año: 2008
Género: Rock Sinfónico
Duración: 63:01
Nacionalidad: Cuba

Lista de Temas:
1. We Are the Light
2. The Awaken Dreamer in the Soul Garden Dreams the Flower Planets (4:39)
3. Toward the Adventure
4. There's a Place not Faraway
5. Jagannath Orbit (in the Orbit of Love)
6. Rhythm of the Spheres
7. Sanctuary

Alineación:
- Roberto Díaz / guitars, bass in song 2, vocals
- Virginia Peraza / keyboards
- Yaroski Corredera / bass
- Ariel Valdés / drums, bongo, batá.
- Osvaldo Vieites / drums.
- Carlos Sosa / lead vocals
Guest Musicians:
Anaisy Gómez / clarinet, bagpipe, recorder
Javier Mauri / percussion, recorder
Donna Betancourt / bassoon
Jacobo García / didgeridoo

Desde Cuba este grupazo nos ofrece memorables secciones del mejor rock sinfónico (eso sí, cantado en inglés, y con nada de su música popular, nada de latin jazz o ritmos afrocubanos).
Un disco exquisito a mi gusto, lleno de potencia y virtuosismo, en su momento fue seleccionado como finalista en el evento de rock progresivo Progawards 2008, celebrado en Italia, en las categorías de mejor "disco extranjero" y "mejor trabajo de arte".
Bueno, quizás ya han escuchado el segundo de la banda que ya fue publicado en este blog, y ya saben de que va la cosa, entonces no sigo escribiendo y los dejo con los links. O peor aún, quizás no sepan NADA de la banda, entonces los dejo con los comentarios de gente que escribe mejor que yo. La cuestión es que hoy es viernes y no tengo ganas de escribir :p

En estos primeros días de octubre es una buena noticia la presentación de un nuevo disco de la agrupación de rock progresivo Anima Mundi. El álbum ha sido nombrado The Way y es nuevamente la disquera francesa MUSEA, la encargada de distribuirlo en el circuito europeo. Este CD fue producido por la propia banda, entre octubre del 2008 y mayo de 2010. Para la masterizacion final contaron con los servicios del prestigioso ingeniero de sonido Maikel Bárzaga, quien dio los toques finales a este auténtico trabajo de orfebrería musical en forma de disco, en agosto del año en curso.
Esta es la segunda producción de Anima Mundi con el sello fonográfico MUSEA REC, anteriormente editaron Jagannath Orbit, en 2008. También es la segunda ocasión en que participa en un disco de la banda el ya permanente y talentoso vocalista de esta, Carlos Sosa.
Se trata en este caso de un trabajo conceptual que no solamente se centra en la complejidad de la estructura compositiva de los temas, lo cual es característico del rock progresivo. The Way nos cuenta sobre el sendero hacia la iluminación del ser humano, desde el momento en que comprende su pequeñez dentro del plano de la materia, hasta la plena, libre, e impersonal fusión con la energía originaria del cosmos.
Algunos de los temas que conforman este nuevo disco son los siguientes: Time to understand, Spring Knocks on the door of men, Flying to the sun, Cosmic man.
Anima Mundi está integrado por Virginia Peraza (teclados y voz); Yaroski Corredera (bajo); José Manuel Govin (batería); Carlos Sosa (voz principal) y Roberto Díaz (Guitarra, voz y dirección). En este disco colaboraron como músicos invitados: Yailín Martínez (flauta); Mónica Acosta (fagot) y Javier Mauri (percusiones).
En las actuales circunstancias, la industria discográfica internacional transita por un período de reajustes, como resultado de la crisis económica mundial y el “boomerang” de Internet y las nuevas tecnologías. Por ello es de destacar el hecho de que una banda proveniente de un país latinoamericano y caribeño como Cuba, haya logrado el fichaje de un segundo disco con una discográfica con las características y el prestigio de MUSEA REC.

Camilo Ernesto Olivera

In 2002 the promising Cuban formation Anima Mundi delivered their debut album entitled Septentrion, a very pleasant and melodic album that scans the borders between neo-prog, symphonic rock and progfolk. We had to wait six years for this new album and I can tell you it was worth waiting that long period of time!
On Jagannath Orbit the sound is more in the 24-carat symphonic rock tradition, blended with subtle contributions by guest musicians on clarinet, bassoon, bagpipes and didgeridoo. The long and varied first composition We Are The Light (close to 18 minutes), turns out to be the way to progheaven. First mellow with piano and soaring keyboards, then alternating between swinging, bombastic, dreamy and a mid-tempo featuring wonderful sounds on vintage keyboards like Hammond, mellotron, minimoog, wah-wah guitar, Yes-like bass playing and vocal harmonies and a breathtaking final part with sumptuous mellotron choirs and sensitive electric guitar. Goose bumps! The other six compositions, from which two are instrumental, also deliver lots of excitement like the strong guitar work including biting wah-wah in Toward The Adventure. In There's A Place Not Far Away we hear the sound of a majestic church-organ, moving guitar and beautiful mellotron waves in a spectacular break with guitar and keyboards. Again wonderful vintage keyboards and wah-wah guitar in the long and compelling instrumental Rhythm Of The Spheres. Splendid minimoog flights, mellotron choirs, fiery guitar and lush keyboards in the final track Sanctuary. This is a real progheaven album! A big hand for this Cuban progrock formation. These guys have perfectly used the six years between their first and second album. Highly recommended!

Erik Neuteboom

A new and great Anima Mundi sound!
For those who are not familiar with this band called Anima Mundi, well let me tell you that first of all you will be surprised because they are a band from Cuba, nowadays it is not common to hear a prog band from that part of the globe, so that simple fact led me to discover the band few years ago when they released their first album entitled "Septentrion", which was a symphonic (with hints of Neo) prog album with a very original and unique style due to the predominant use of bagpipes, and vocals in Spanish.
Last year (2008) they at last released their second album, an album which I was really looking forward to listen to, and whose sound is different from their Septentrion sound, here we will find some different things and nice surprises. The name of this record is "Jagganath Orbit" which is produced by Roberto Díaz, leader of the band and a very nice person who I've been in contact with, the running time is over 65 minutes of great music divided in 7 tracks.
Jagganath Orbit kicks off with the longest song of the album, which named "We are the Light" is reaching almost 18 minutes, and a track that shows the band's step forward and their new sound. It starts with a melodic and spacey background, some piano here and there and other noises, after the first minute keyboards enter along with drums and the other instruments making a clear 90´s symphonic sound ala Spock´s Beard in some moments, then, vocals enter and this was my first surprise, they decided now to sing in English, they do it and sound good, but I personally prefer bands singing in their native language. There is a great instrumentation I like a lot the background during this epic, there are also a sitar sound and some nice guitar riffs. The song has some comes and go's, small musical changes inside it, a predominant keyboard sound and a great progressiveness. The second half of the song has some acoustic guitars and a calmed rhythm, it is not the bombastic keyboard sound, it is more melodic. But then, the initial style returns and the rest of the song continue like this.
The second track is "The Awaken Dreamer in the Soul Garden Dreams the Flower Planets", a long name to a shorter song that has a mid tempo rhythm with some guitars, and after a few moments it turns into a softer and calmer song, with synth effects like the sound of air and a spacey feeling inside it, an instrumental song, another nice surprise.
"Toward the Adventure" has some synth effects that make me feel like being walking in an unknown place, then the song becomes stronger with the help of guitars and other instruments, this time the vocals return, this track is very good but not my favourite though I enjoy the changes they do during the song.
"There's a Place not Faraway" keeps the same line of the previous song, I mean the musical direction and style is very alike, even the running time of both songs just have a one minute gap, the vocals sound very sweet in moments, and the guitar solos with a constant drumming sound and of course the keys as background make this a very good song, though a bit catchy, but it does not lose its essence.
Suddenly, you may thing the same song its running but actually there is a new track, the title track "Jagganath Orbit" (In the Orbit of Love) that lasts 11 minutes with again some time and mood changes through it, but following the same album's style, I mean there are some moments on the song that reminds me to previous tracks, in other words I believe there are some repetitive or unnecessary moments, though the song as a whole is very good actually.
The next song "Rhythm of the Spheres" starts with a didgeridoo sound, then keyboards and small changes, then guitar and drums, and then again some softly and well placed keyboard sound, I have to admit that in some moments the reminded me to Flower Kings, well, the song structure is always building up something, so you can be there listening to the track and enjoying what you are listening to, because the music maintains you there, expecting something. After 5 minutes, the song makes a little stop, those spacey effects and noises appear again. Some minutes later the song changes again, and due to some great sounds they produce, in my opinion the song is becoming better and better through the minutes. Probably my favourite track of the album, beautiful.
And finishing, we have "Sanctuary", the last 5 minutes of the album are filled with nice symphonic prog, and honestly this again reminds me to TFK, nice song anyway.
There is a point that I noticed since the very first listen, because I believe it's obvious, and it is the lack of bagpipes, I mention this because in their first record what made me love the band was their unique and original use of bagpipes in their music, I must admit I missed it a lot in this album.
Jagganath Orbit, is a very good album actually, it does not matter if they changed their sound, I believe the production is great and their new musical style is good as well, I like the album very much and I consider it is very complete and consistent, though right now I still prefer the Septentrion sound, I am also pleased with Jagganath Orbit, and since now I am looking forward to their next release. My final grade, 4 stars, take a look to the Caribbean prog, there are worth listening bands.
Enjoy it!!

Guillermo H. Urdapilleta

A prog band from Cuba? Wow, this is new! I was intrigued enough to get their second CD. I was expecting some strong latin influences and maybe a little salsa or rumba to be included. Well, Not so much. There are indeed some hints of those, but in very, very small doses. Anima Mundi is a symphonic prog outfit in the stronget sense of the word, and making no secrecy of their main influence. In fact, they seem to worship Yes above all things and some parts of their music does remind strongly of their Relayer period (sometimes a little too much). But they´re not copycats. They are very talented, skillfull and deserve to receive some more atention.
The production is very good. The vocals are ok, not very outstanding, but not annoying either (in the style of... Jon Anderson, of course!). On the other side, the instrumental parts are terrific and the record is a mostly intricated, complex, melodic, tapestry of sounds. Great, powerful and dreamy keyboards parts are the dominant factor on all tracks, but the rest of the band are not far behind. There are no fillers and the songwriting & arrangements are tasteful and very well done.
Conclusion: Jagannath Orbit is very strong and pleasant album. Even if they have not developed their own style completely yet, they´re surely on the right path. A hard album to rate. I´d be giving them 3,5 stars, but they are good enough to make me round it up to 4. Very promising! I´m looking forward to hear their next works.

Tarcisio Moura

Lo que no escontré fueron videos de este disco, eso se los debo (creo que los tengo mal acostumbrados). Bueno, bájense el disco y déjenme descansar que viene el fin de semana, y para eso se hizo.

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