Ecos de Magerit

This album offers ‘Echoes from Magerit,’ a phonetic representation of the Arabic name for the Spanish capital. It’s the second release for the guitarist Melón Jiménez, who hails from Madrid, but has family roots in Jerez: a city where the Arabic legacy is much more present. Although still young, Jiménez has a decent musical career already, having been part of flamenco pop star Niña Pastori’s band at the age of 15, followed by collaborations with artists including Enrique Morente and Anoushka Shankar.

Although the tracks on this disc don’t reference notable landmarks from the city they pay homage to, Jiménez nevertheless imbues them with personality and emotion, not to mention variety. Here the elegant solo guitar of ‘Gato Montoya’ and rock rhythm of ‘Benavente’ (with bassist Carles Benavent) rub shoulders with the Latin flights of the title-track and the bansuri of Lara Wong. Although the album lacks coherence and some of Jiménez’s trills seem a touch hesitant, there are some very nice compositions here, making for a promising second disc from a guitarist and composer with much to offer.