Fiesta Songs (2003)
11 tracks, 44 minutes
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Uwe Schmidt is a man with a million aliases. Most of his musical guises are based on various types of electronica – techno, IDM, ambient – but after he moved to Santiago de Chile in the 1990s, he put together a Latin orchestra and added an extra alias to the pile, becoming Señor Coconut. His previous work brought an element of amusement to the proceedings, and his albums as Señor Coconut carried on that theme – the first big release under that name was a tribute to Kraftwerk, performed as if they were a traditional South American ensemble. Fiesta Songs dropped most of that ‘traditional’ ruse, but the musical humour is still there.
Most of the tracks on the album are covers of pop and rock music – ‘Smoke on the Water,’ ‘Riders on the Storm,’ ‘Beat It,’ ‘Oxygène, Part 2,’ that sort of thing – as if they were done by a New York-style salsa orchestra, and bringing other styles such as cha-cha-cha, mambo and bolero into the mix. So, you have an ensemble of mostly German and Danish musicians playing Latin music with a heavy wink and under a ridiculous name. Yes, it may be a little bit gimmicky, but who cares? It’s fun, and good! Bonus points for a couple of really cool tenor sax solos by [checks discogs.com] Thomas Hass scattered throughout.
Fiesta Songs isn’t entirely divorced from Schmidt/Coconut’s electronic roots. There are drum machines, programmed doodads and creative production on a couple of tracks, and even when there isn’t, there is sometimes some vague feeling of electronica in the way that percussion and horns are used. It’s most audible on the appropriately-titled ‘Electrolatino,’ one of only three original compositions on the album.
With this album, Señor Coconut y su conjunto create a combination that I love – light-hearted and humorous music, but played with high-level musicianship. It’s fun for all layers of the brain!
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