Triana - 1975 - El Patio

Triana

1975

El Patio

01. Abre la Puerta (9:53)
02. Luminosa Mañana (4:05)
03. Recuerdos de una Noche (4:42)
04. Sé de un Lugar (7:10)
05. Diálogo (4:32)
06. En el Lago (6:38)
07. Todo es de Color (2:09)

Bonus tracks on 2015 remaster:

08. Recuerdos de una Noche (live 1975)
09. En el Lago (live 1975)
10. Abre la Puerta (live 1975)
11. Luminosa Mañana

- Jesús De La Rosa / vocals, keyboards
- Eduardo Rodriguez / flamenco guitar
- Juan José Palacios / drums, percussion

With:
- Antonio Perez / electric guitar
- Manolo Rosa / bass

Possibly the strongest name of the 70's Spanish Prog Rock bands, Triana was the result behind an idea of keyboardist Jesus De La Rosa.De La Rosa was a well-known musician of the local scene of Sevilla, but tired of the flat music of the time he decided to form a Progressive Rock band with heavy roots in Flamenco music.So, he formed Triana along with Juan Jose Palacios (drums/percussion) and Eduardo Rodríguez (guitars).The ''El Patio'' album was released in 1975 (Movieplay) and it was a unique combination of Progressive Rock with Flamenco atmospheres.The atmospheric keyboards (nice Mellotron), the symphonic arrangements and the majestic voice of De La Rosa are amazingly engaged with Palacios' jazzy/ethnic-oriented drumming and Rodriguez's Flamenco guitar-style.Unfortunately ''El Patio'' went widely unnoticed due to its poor promotion.However, you won't believe your ears, when you purchase this fantastic LP.A mid-70's gem of music, that can easily heal your heart and soul with its deep,atmospheric and emotional content.

TRIANA is the most legendary progressive rockband in Spain. Their stunning debut-album was a seminal blend of flamenco and progrock and paved the way to flamenco-inspired progrock in Spain, culminating in bands like AZAHAR, CAI, ALAMEDA, QUALDAQUIVIR, MEZQUITA and MEDINA AZAHARA. The story of TRIANA started in Seville, the beating heart of the flamenco. Jesus de la Rosa (keyboards/vocals) was a known musician in the local music scene and he even had international success with "Los Bravos" and their single "Black Is Black". But he wanted to form his own band to make progressive rock, so he recruited Eduardo Rodriquez Rodway (vocals/guitar) and Juan Jose Palacios 'Tele' (drums/percussion). The trio called themselves TRIANA, named after the most traditional part of the town and they moved to Madrid. With some help they were allowed to record their music in a studio with highly advanced equipment.

In '74 "Triana" first released a single titled "Bulerias 5x8" (it became a failure) and then the debut album "El Patio" ('75). Unfortunately their flamenco-progrock did little, eventually the album sold 1000 copies. But after a big presentation in Madrid in '76, things started to improve and in '77 the second album "Hijos Del Agobio" came out, followed by the single "Rumor". The emotional lyrics (about hope after the end of general Franco's dictatorship) were embraced by the Spanish youth when the radio started to play "Rumor". TRIANA's music boosted the youth's identity and it gave them a way to show their emotions. And how ironically, TRIANA's music became less progressive while the band became more and more famous. Their third LP "Sombra Y Luz" ('79) sold 300.000 copies and from the fourth album "Encuentro" ('80) TRIANA turned out to be Spain's most popular rockband. Further releases were "Triana" ('81) and "Llego El Dia" ('83) but then the story ended very sad because in '83 Jesus de la Rosa died in a tragic car incident and the other musicians decided to call it a day. Record company Fonomusic released some compilations, especially the beautifully packed 2-CD "Una Historia" ('95) is recommended.

The opener on the first album "El Patio Is Abre La Puerta" (almost 10 minutes), it starts with choir-Mellotron, piano and flamenco guitar (tremolo-technique). Then the typical sensitive and skillful flamenco guitar blends with piano and soft synthesizer chords. A fluent and tight rhythm-section carries the music to a powerful acceleration with the typical flamenco vocals, expressive and a bit wailing. The rest of this song contains lots of shifting moods that range from mellow with flamenco guitar and choir-Mellotron to propulsive with powerful drums and howling electric guitar, very moving. Most of the other six compositions are in the vein of "Abre La Puerta": beautiful shifting climates with typical flamenco elements like palmas (handclapping), rasgueado (quick downward strikes across all strings) and picados (quick runs on the guitar with two fingers), along with tasteful keyboards (organ, synthesizers, Mellotron and piano) and fine electric guitarplay. The final two tracks are splendid compositions: beautiful interplay between the flamenco - and electric guitar and a bombastic finale with rasgueado, organ and electric guitar in "En El Lago" and powerful drums and a howling and biting electric guitar in "Recuerdos De Una Noche". The second album "Hijos Del Agobio" is in the vein of "El Patio" but fails to generate the same excitement and the third "Sombra Y Luz" only sparks at some moments like the compelling titletrack. Later albums are tasteful but too polished poprock.

Triana were at the forefront of the nascent Rock Andaluz of the mid-1970s with their particular blend of flamenco and progressive rock, characterised by multi-layered analogue keyboards, elaborate flamenco guitar and intense, at times tortured, vocals. Flamenco is of course a musical genus from Andalusia; the neighbourhood in Seville that gave this Spanish trio its name is generally considered to be the birthplace of flamenco. Triana, 'the gitano barrio', was home to a large population of Romani people who usually lived in communal homes, called corrales, which were organised around a patio. Many corrales have now disappeared due to housing pressure thus the patio is an important symbol of gitano culture and of the struggle between tradition and modernity. While Triana's 'El Patio' has similar cultural significance it differs in that it features the harmonious synthesis of tradition and modernity, represented respectively by flamenco and progressive rock.

During Francisco Franco's dictatorship flamenco was redefined as generically Spanish in order to prevent local allegiance within the ostensibly unified nation. The gitano experience of oppression was erased and, with the rise of tourism, flamenco was used as nationalist propaganda. While Franco's declining regime relaxed some of its regulations during the 1960s and early-1970s it was really the influx of foreign tourists and the return of Spanish workers from abroad that introduced democratic values to Spain: 'The trees had stories of other worlds' ('Luminosa Mañana ).

'El Patio' (1975) was released in the same year that Franco died but before democracy was established in Spain therefore political themes are not as obvious as on the follow-up album 'Hijos de Agobio' of two years later. Flamenco lyrics tend to have several different interpretations that rely on myth and metaphor and are able to speak to the marginalized without being overtly political in tone: 'I know a place where flowers bloom for you, where the river and the mountain love, where the child is born happy' ('Sé de un Lugar'). The child here may be a metaphor for the gitano's rights and status in society, and for the broader changing social values of the new Spanish nation.

The lyrics on 'Abre la Puerta' concern dreams and 'life and illusion' and these notions relate to metaphor and myth and the magical status of gitanos. Running water is symbolic of life itself and patios usually had a central fountain: 'There is a fountain, girl, they call it love'. This traditional view of gitano culture contrasts with the acid trip of 'En el Lago': 'Yesterday afternoon I went to the lake with the intention of meeting something new / We met there and everything started to emerge like a dream'. The use of recreational drugs was one of the transgressions that accompanied freedom of expression after Franco's death, but Triana's lyrics are typically couched in allegory.

The combination of poetic lyrics with plaintive melodies makes for bittersweet listening but there is a considerable history of collaboration between flamenco singers and poets such as Federico García Lorca. Although not a gitano himself, Lorca was killed along with many gitanos during the persecutions of the Franco regime. Lorca's 'Romancero Gitano' (Gypsy Ballads) features the familiar contrast of tradition and modernity, as well as repetition and typically gitano related themes such as water, the moon, love, etc. The same repetition and allusive imagery are prominent in Triana's lyrics: 'I asked the moon if it is love that shines in your smile' ('Diálogo'). This song exemplifies the personification of nature, with the protagonist asking the moon for motherly reassurance like a pagan calling to a female deity for guidance. The moon can be a symbol of death but here it represents the Cosmic Mother who will protect the protagonist. Nature is seen as active rather than passive throughout the album; mountains love, stars dance, and 'the moon bathes in the river' ('Recuerdos de una Noche').

'El Patio ' is a wonderful musical evocation of southern Spain but in my opinion the words are as important as the sounds, which is the reason the review focuses on the lyrics. This was one of my earliest 'discoveries' when I began visiting this site several years ago and it was this kind of eureka moment that drew me in. My one word of warning is that the ethnic and symphonic elements are on an equal footing so symphonic fans might want to tread carefully. However for me this is the yardstick against which all other Spanish progressive albums are measured.