Círculo Radiante

Folk singer and experimental artist Soema Montenegro, born in Buenos Aires, has produced her fifth album in tribute to the sun and to Latin America: “a territory… that always inspires, that is connected to nature.”

Known as a poet-shaman, Montenegro expresses her love of nature through her music; blending Latin American folk traditions and modern electronica with her uplifting vocals. The resultant Círculo Radiante is a diverse and beautifully orchestrated production, with backing musicians Waldemar Garín, Alejandro Gómez Ferrero, Marcos Romano, Jorge Sottile and the album’s producer Leo Martinelli. The nine songs are wide-ranging in pace and tone, from the gentle ‘Viento Norte’ with its brass solo and echoing wind, to the spirited ‘Toro’, to ‘Llego la Tarde’, with its thrumming bass, chorus of crickets, and mournful bandoneón (a nod to the tango of her home city). Montenegro wrote the music and lyrics for all the tracks, with the exception of ‘Punay’, adapted from the original by Argentinian Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-92), one of the leading lights of the nueva canción movement. The only struggle this reviewer had was to pick just one track to try; a tough ask when there’s not a duff song on the album: superb.