Review Summary: The beginning of the end.
Triana entered the new decade riding the wings of success. The trio from Seville (Spain) led by Jesús de la Rosa had an incredible run of three albums where their blend of progressive rock and flamenco had helped them tank through the national confusion of the transition years following the death of Francisco Franco’s dictatorial regime. These were liberating years for the Spanish youth, and Triana’s music, rooted in the magic of flamenco and shrouded with the sound of progressive rock that was starting to pour in from Europe once the country’s veil was lifted, had become the marching drum for more and more musicians enjoying a newfound creative freedom.
On the other hand, and at the band’s core, an increasing melancholy was starting to take over De la Rosa’s compositions, showing the first sings of exhaustion and fatigue that would make the band spiral down even more in the releases that followed. As a result,
Un Encuentro, the band’s fourth full length is an album where slow, dragging tempos and spacious passages dominate most of the songs, but it still manages to preserve some of the elements that made Triana one of the most beloved bands of Spanish rock. In fact, one of the band’s most successful songs was released on this album. “Tu frialdad” opens the record with one of De la Rosa’s most beautiful vocal deliveries of his career. Although the rest of the track list is not as strong as the emblematic opener, a few cuts still manage to capture the essence that made Triana an integral part of Spanish music. “Cae fina la lluvia”, with its splendid crescendo in both tempo and intensity, or “Un nido en mi ventana”, where De la Rosa switches his synth station for the Spanish guitar allowing guitarist Eduardo Rodriguez total freedom to embellish the song, are some examples that serve to illustrate that the Triana’s glow was far from extinct.
40 years later, many renowned Spanish musicians still acknowledge and praise Triana’s influence in modern Spanish music, a conjunction of three musicians coming from different branches of music that collided to produce what has been anecdotically referred to as the flamenco version of Pink Floyd. There is an obviously deeper read into that statement, but only those willing to submerge into the music of Triana will be able to see beyond and rejoice in their eternal legacy.
