CD Review by: CD Universe

Viento De Agua: Hector "Tito" Matos (vocals, congas, campana, percussion); Sammy Tanco (vocals); Ricardo Pons (saxophone, clarinet, organ, campana, triangle, background vocals); Alberto Toro (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, background vocals); Richard Nant (trumpet); Joe Fiedler (trombone); Desmar Guevara (piano, synthesizer); Waldo Chavez (bass); Bobby Sanabria (drums, maracas, shekere, guataca, pandeiro, cuica); Jose "Primo" Alomar, Juan "Juango" Gutierrez, Camilo E. Molina (percussion). Additional personnel includes: Marc Ribot (guitar); David Sanchez (tenor saxophone); Luis Perdomo (piano). Includes liner notes by Hector "Tito" Matos and Ned Sublette.

Puerto Rican musicians based in New York play traditional Puerto Rican rhythms of bomba & plena in a contemporary urban dance band setting - they combine New York's best-known traditional Puerto Rican percussionists w. hip, contemporary arrangements

"Materia Prima"

CD Review by: Smithsonian Global Sound

Notes: The bomba and plena heard on this recording are the materia prima (raw material) of today's two most African Puerto Rican musical traditions. When its dynamic leader Tito Matos created the group Viento de Agua ("Wind of Water"), he vowed to keep alive the "streetcorner sound" of the plena, music rooted in the lives of ordinary people. Viento de Agua Unplugged plays the stripped-down, straight-ahead version of his music, foregrounding its essence — the sound of unbridled percussion, underscoring lyrics that proclaim local topics. In these performances by veterans of bomba and plena, Tito proves his claim that "There is no way to create if you don't have the roots."

La bomba y plena escuchadas en esta grabación son la materia prima de las principales tradiciones musicales afro-puertoriqueñas del presente. Cuando su dinámico líder Tito Matos creó el grupo Viento de Agua, él prometió mantener vivo el "sonido de la esquina de la calle" de la plena, música enraizada en la vida de la gente del pueblo. Viento de Agua Unplugged interpreta la versión básica y directa de su música, asentándose en su esencia –el sonido desenfrenado de la percusión, apoyando letras que proclaman temas locales. En estas presentaciones por veteranos de la bomba y la plena, Tito corrobora su idea de que "no se puede crear sin conocer las raíces". 12 cortes.