Gauak, neskak eta maletak (nights, girls and suitcases)

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS

In an era in which music and everything that surrounds it is passing through a difficult time, the singer Txuma Murugarren has brought out his third solo album with Gaztelupeko Hotsak. The CD is faithful to his style and shows the special sensitivity to rock and the wholeness that has always characterised his work. Former lead singer with Sasoi Ilunak, a group which today has its own special place among the best ever bands in the Basque Country, Txuma has brought out three albums charting three histories and three moments. Recorded by Jose Lastra in the Tio Pete studios in Urduliz, this latest work is probably Txuma’s most compact, united and direct album, a tribute to the truth, often crude, yet sometimes as sweet as caramel. ‘Gauak, neskak eta maletak’ is an album full of great songs, each a world unto itself with a story behind it.
Murugarren’s band consists of the lead singer of . Lt, Rafa Rueda on the guitar, Ekaitz Hernández from Split 77 on the bass, Natxo Beltrán – Atom Rumba, Cujo, etc.- on the drums and the popular piano player from Bilbao, Rafa Aceves on the keyboard. Together, they have made this album possible. It is a beautiful work, harsh at times but always with the deep-rooted emotion that has always characterised Txuma. A narrator, a poet who sings and impregnates all his works with a restrained romanticism that he exploits to the limit in many of his tracks. The album is full of personal songs that, at the same time (as always) serve as stories about life, stories about each and every one of us.
‘Gauak, Neskak eta Maletak’ is an album created from inside, filled with self-confidence and always contributing a highly personal viewpoint to the Basque music scene. A lively work with a strong attitude all its own.
Gotzon Uribe