Beledo - Flotando en el vacio (2024) [Hi-Res]

It was really a wonderful surprise when Leonardo told me that he wanted me to record an album with Carles Benavent and Jorge Pardo. Leonardo always comes up with ideas that make my head spin for a good reason. It was almost too good to be true.

After pinching myself to make sure I was not dreaming I had to navigate through the idea and figure out what kind of material I would bring to the table. Carles and Jorge participated on Paco de Lucia’s “Solo Quiero Caminar” which is one of the best albums ever made and Carles and Paco duo “Monasterio de sal” is not only an extremely difficult song but it is one of the most impressive compositions ever written. That said, I knew that my album had to be completely different than that but my extreme desire for excellency would find a common ground where these exceptional musicians would feel comfortable using their amazing skills over my compositions. On top of that, we were going to have the incredible amazing Asaf Sirkis on drums who can jazz and rock hard but has an incredible vast knowledge of diverse ethnic music from around the world. We could not go wrong.

With all of that in mind I started writing and “Candombesque” came out on the piano, loyal to my Uruguayan roots, and “From Within” on the guitar that has a definite hint of flamenco in the chord changes. Little that I knew that Jorge Pardo would play so masterfully over it and I would have the time of my life exchanging solos with him in the studio, oh my God.

This album also created the right opportunity to integrate my contemporary tango composition “Rauleando” dedicated to the master of Uruguayan tango, Raúl Jaurena. I was fortunate to have played it with him in the context of a tango ensemble before he passed away. A lovely soul and a superb musician.

I also decided to use the composition “Flotando en el vacío” that was part of the repertoire of my beloved Uruguayan band Siddhartha (1977-1982). Because I was a student of the Conservatorio Universitario I got to attend a composition workshop with Héctor Tosar, composer, pianist, conductor, educator and one of the biggest icons in the history of the music in Uruguay. I presented to him the piano score of “Flotando en el vacío” and he played it like he already knew it, with the left hand riffs and the quartal harmonies on the right hand, wow. He pointed out that the main descending progression was definitely resembling flamenco music, which made me immediately realize that though my intention was writing Jazz-Rock, my young impulses were bringing out the kind of music that was coming from my veins and my ancestry. That is why I decided to include this tune in this project.

Leonardo and I had a few months to brainstorm and being able to develop all the ideas so that we could have the results we wanted. Leonardo asked me to come up with “Djelem Djelem”, a real anthem of the Romanian Gypsies. There are different versions of it and the original is a really slow and heart wrenching ballad with its incredible content. I wanted to have that heartfelt melody but I found my own way with the harmony and through the rhythm of bulerías. Carles was extremely helpful giving it the ultimate shape in the studio. When you get to work with musicians of this caliber you are safe because they are giving you more than 100% and their 100% is really big. This is the only tune that I recorded with a flamenco guitar and I just used it to play behind everybody.

Those were all the pre-written compositions, but we already anticipated that we were going to have improvisational sessions where we would have the great Gary Husband on piano and keyboards. From those sessions we brought “De tardecita”, “Es prohibeix blasfemar”, and “Rodeados”.

We were all at La Casamurada, a magical little castle made into a wonderful studio owned by the masterful engineer Jesus Rovira in Banyeres del Penedès, Tarragona, Spain. Gary was there recording a duo with Markus Reuter, also for Moonjune of course, and we had an unforgettable few days all together with Leonardo, Asaf, Carles, and Jorge from breakfast, dinner, and late night hangs by the pool. I’ll never forget the first night when Carles and Jorge arrived and we were chatting. Carles was telling me all about recording “Monasterio de sal” with Paco and Jorge was mentioning many incredible anecdotes. I could not control my deep emotions of being there with them. My eyes were crying with joy. Also it was sweet to get to spend time with Gary Husband who recorded on one of my previous albums “Dreamland Mechanism”. He was also touring with Allan Holdsworth and also with Soft Machine at times that I was opening for them with my band. Also it was so lovely to be on the road with Asaf Sirkis an exquisite human being now a member of Soft Machine that I was fortunate enough to go on tour as a member. All thanks to Leonardo of course.

Going back to this album that I am so proud of, I recorded the basic tracks of “Flotando en el vacío”, “Rauleando” and “Candombesque” on the acoustic piano at the session and then I overdubbed my electric guitar, but “From Within” and the rest of the tunes are played completely spontaneously at the session.

For sure I am leaving many things not addressed about the music and all of the incredible experiences around the making of this album. I hope you can sit down and enjoy it as much as we did making it. Cheers!