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Los Buenos Parranderos
Golpe
Sanch
F CD9905 (53 minutes)

Los Buenos Parranderos are a 17-strong ensemble who emerged from the choir of the Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Tunapuna, Trinidad, more than 20 years ago. They play not calypso or soca but an earlier traditional acoustic folk music known as Parang which derived from immigrants from nearby Venezuela rather than from the influence of British colonial rule. Indeed, its closest musical cousin is the Venezuelan folk music known as joropo. The songs, all sung in Spanish, are mostly Christmas carols with religious titles such as 'El angel Gabriel' and 'El niño Jesus'. The basic instrument is the cuatro, a small ukelele-type guitar from Venezuela which is also popular in Puerto Rico. Traditionally, parang would have been played by a troupe of amateurs (parranda) going from door to door. Just when the tradition seemed in danger of dying out in the 1960s, it underwent a revival and is once again hugely popular in Spanish-speaking parts of Trinidad.

Recorded live in Port of Spain last year, the sound on this recording is light and airborne, driven rhythmically by box-bass and maracas and the meshing stringed textures of cuatros, mandolins and guitars. The vocal parts, sung mostly by Gail Ganpat, are appealingly simple but on the title-track two soloists alternate stanzas in thrilling fashion. What parang music may lack in variety it makes up for with sheer joie de vivre.

Nigel Williamson
Songlines
Spring/Summer 2000 pgs. 72/73