Parranda La Cruz

Based in Lyon, Parranda La Cruz are a vocal and percussion quartet founded by the two female voices, Venezuelan expatriate Rebecca Roger and native française, Margaux Delatour. Luc Moindranzé and David Doris from La Réunion provide percussion and the male voices. Under Roger's guidance, their repertoire is her indigenous Afro-Venezuelan music, very much in the spirit of Colombia's Totó La Momposina and Canalón de Timbiquí. They do it authentically and very well. ‘Fuego Candela’ opens proceedings in a way that most of the other nine numbers follow: driven on by relentless tambours, the vocal chorus responds to a lead female voice, building to a rousing, whooping climax. The album is not without variety, however: the brief ‘Sirena’, for instance, is sung a cappella; subliminal bird calls echo the two female voices on the beautiful ‘Lavanderas’; and bamboo quitiplás provide a subtle drama and respite from the drums on stand-out ‘Pajarito’. This is music to stir the spirits and rouse the deities.