Ghandaia

"Uno...don't let that title fool you: This is a record of multitudes."
- Jeff Salamon exerpt from full page article on the band. - Austin AMerican Statesman

Ghandaia's Debut Album: UNO debuts at number 9 on CMJ's Latin Alternative & World Music Charts. - CMJ

Ghandaia's debut Album UNO hit's number 1 on KUT's (Austin Public Radio) World Music Charts. - KUT.ORG

The track 'Esa Rola' is included in August '04 Mp3 compilation. The album UNO recieves a 4 star review. Boom! Magazine is one of the top Latin Alternative Spanish Language Magazines in the U.S. (based in Miami). - Boom! Magazine

Phases & Stages
by: Belinda Acosta
Austin Chronicle.


Ghandaia
Uno (Xochipilli) An elephant stands alone on the cover of Ghandaia's first album, Uno. It's a visually poetic description of the album: immense, stately, capable of great ferociousness and sublime serenity. That's saying something for a ninepiece local Latin ensemble armed with horns, percussion, guitars, bass, bells, and more. Yet, Uno never overpowers. Instead, it seduces like a seasoned lover. Starting with Alex Marrero's muscular vocals on "Lo Eterno," the album makes a hearty Afro-Cuban start with lyrics that entice listeners to "let themselves go." Smooth Latin rock in "En el Alma" turns up the heated rhythms without breaking a sweat, while the title track excites with a contagious pop beat, bends into reggae, then hops into a can't-stop ska. "In & Out of the Way" is an aggressive Afro-jazz number that segues effortlessly to a sweet salsa, "Marieta." Other choice cuts include the liquid samba-bossa "A Côr do Som" and the Brazilian jam-rock "Dharma ... Nos Eixos." Three old friends are the heart of Ghandaia; Alex Marrero (vocals, guitar, percussion), Frederico Geib (vocals, percussion, guitar), and Pablo Larios (bass) bring out the best in each other and surround themselves with a masterful horn section and jump-to-your-feet percussionists. A lyric from "Lo Eterno," sums up Ghandaia's premiere disc best: "Silence is beautiful, but music is divine."

****

- Austin Chronicle

One of Texas' most authentic urban culture magazines ran a featured profile on Ghandaia in its June/July 2004 issue praising the bands originality & work ethic. - Feedback Magazine

Ghandaia's song "A Cor do Som" (The Colour of Sound) is featured in the Launching Campaign for Volkswagen's New Beetle Convertible. - National TV Commercial

Ghandaia
by: Nicole Haddad

Austin, Texas—Out of the thousands of bands that spring up all over the country, few actually strike a cord. One band in particular has done more than that. Ghandaia, which means “conscious party,” is just that. They are a multicultural band with five base members that periodically expands to a nine-piece collective. Their music is a blend of the different facets of their personalities bringing in Cuban, Brazilian, Reggae, Funk and quality pop music. They are one of Austin’s hidden treasures and continually raise the bar for musicians everywhere by singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese, while bringing forth a unique world sound that manifests itself through an array of instruments and vocals.

Ghandaia’s seed of origin took root when a very talented and musically-oriented trio met in Mexico City and formed a bond. Alex and Pablo, who were both sons of exiles (Spanish and Cuban respectively,) formed the first link in what was to become a diverse project in originality. Frederico joined them in high school after moving from Brazil. The interaction proved to be so strong that all three musicians joined forces again in Austin, Texas in 1999, where they met their last two members. Texas native, Greg and Ed (from Connecticut) joined the band and solidified the group’s entity into their core five. In 2003, they released their first album, UNO. Rarely has an album generated such good feelings. In fact, after a week of being on MP3.com they were featured as a “coveted pick” in the Latin category, and remained under that listing for the next 4 months. Most recently, Volkswagen picked up one of their songs, “A Cor do Som,” (The Color of Sound) for a National TV Spot.

As of right now, Ghandaia is in the process of finishing up their second album, Evolucion, which is being co-produced by well-known talent Craig Brock. To record their second album they rented out an attic and spent hours tracking it live, then “moved over-dubs back home in order to finish up vocals, some percussion and the last of the horns.” As an independent project, the extra work they willingly put in is impressive. Evolucion will be coming out in September—about the time the band will be playing Austin City Limits Music Festival. I wouldn’t recommend missing it as Ghandaia is at its best live. Their energy and vibrant sound have people dancing and celebrating, which is what they are all about—celebration, unity and social consciousness.

“Somos la gente,” (We are the people) - located in their music downloads, is a song Ghandaia penned about a year ago. But given the current debate over immigration, the lyrics and message are poignant. The song tells two stories, one of the hardships an immigrant man faces in trying to care for his family, and that of an artist and her experiences on this side of the border. It is a song that breeds contemplation and passion. As Oscar Wilde said “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.” - BV Online Magazine NYC

Seasoned local performers, Ghandaia (gahn-die-ah) came out swinging. Not like a Muhammad Ali, like Duke Ellington. It's easy to make a racket with 10 people, but it's something else to open with flowing rhythm and sweet melody. Then again, Ghandaia's got a lock on diversity-in-unity, writ large on 2003's appropriately titled UNO (Xochipili). Ghandaia has all the Latin big-band tools – timbales, horns, congas, keyboards, drums, bass, percussion, guitars – yet "Latin" for this Austin collective means from here to Tierra del Fuego. Songs opined in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, wrapped in salsa, conscious reggae, samba, War-like funk, cumbia, cha-cha-cha, and rock en español. By Ghandaia's second number, folks under the tent's blessed shade fanned themselves in samba time, while tune three found kinesthetic festivalers undulating in front of the PA stacks – a nice showing for an early set on ACL day one. A new cumbia workout, from their imminent second LP, Evolución, invited more sweaty hips to shake. Rock steady followed, inexplicably without horns. The last song arrived abruptly: free-flowing bands like Ghandaia aren't especially well-suited for rigid time slots. As the closer evaporated, a Portuguese-flavored shuffle melting into a "Strawberry Fields" rave-up, the crowd swore at the clock along with the band.

- David Lynch - Austin Chronicle

Evolucion, the sophomore release from the Austin-based,
horn-driven Latin-groove outfit Ghandaia (gahn-die-ah) manages to
further the band's mission of eclipsing the expectations or biases
often associated with Latin American-influenced music. While many of
the tracks on Evolucion contain traditional Latin styles
(cumbia, salsa), these styles serve only at the ground floor of
Ghandaia's operation, which encompasses reggae, funk, rock and folk.
The 'traditional' aspects found here act more as a structural
framework for the album rather than being its guiding credo and
lasting impact. Ghandaia expertly takes Latin music to impressionistic
and unexpected places, utilizing open energy with very well-crafted
songs and visible brushstrokes with more subtle nuances, creating
music that comes off as being grounded and free-associative at the
same time. In the end, the substance of the album triumphs the many
styles hinted at, helping to make this a more than cohesive follow-up
to their brilliant debut, Uno.


Whether it be the blistering soul of Greg Jones' guitar work on
"Petala Y Espino," Frederico Geib's soaring and enraptured vocals on
"Tree of Life," a tastefully placed organ on the eternally sunny
reggae of "Solstico," or the myriad of horns and auxiliary vocalists
and percussion players throughout, the pieces fit into a unified
whole, never sounding earnest or weighed-down. This is no small task.
Besides a good engineer, to make a diverse album work takes great
songs and skilled players who can breathe life into a studio setting.
There is no shortage of either on Evolucion.


Frederico Geib's trilingual vocals (singing in Portuguese, Spanish,
and English) serve as both dynamic melodic instrument and able
messenger. Comparable to Lenine (best described -- perhaps -- as the
Beck of Brazil), his voice is powerfully possessed yet controlled,
creating an impressive balance of technique and improvisation. The
boldness of Alex Marrero's vocals bring a soulful and deep presence to
the cumbia/salsa "Mentirosa," a frisky jaunt of a song with swooning
horns and to "Nostalgia," a Cuban-inspired track that proves as punchy
as it is loose and beautiful.


"Pincelando Rosas" is a fiercely wicked Afro-cuban funk song,
propelling the tail end of the album towards the conscious funk rock
of "Tree of Life," in which Ghandaia creates an energizing horn-laced
Latin-rock/reggae hybrid that soars unencumbered, with Frederico Geib
spitting out fierce melodic bursts that fit into the song's bristling
energy perfectly. "Para Viver" closes the album, a Latin-funk workout
with a rock psychedelia approach where the jamband beast within
Ghandaia unleashes, creating some truly inspired moments from a
near-rapping Geib and an unguarded and energized Jones on the electric
guitars.


Ghandaia exhibit a collective confidence and intuitive musical prowess
on Evolucion that many well-received bands are only able to
hint at. A great deal of Evoucion's appeal is its success in
leaning towards any musician within the group without losing the focus
-- or the heart -- of the album (or song, for that matter). The band
leads the songs down their natural path throughout Evolucion,
allowing them to bear the fruit of their composition without weighing
down the branches which have been spawned from them. Ghandaia incites
the recognition that music, when done with class and talent, is bigger
than those who create it.

- Jambands.com - Glenn Alexander