Gabriela - El Viaje

EL VIAJE, Gabriela´s new musical journey, filled with deep yearning and her ever-evocative imagery, is a potent sonic feast. Beautifully written and sung by the celebrated Argentine singer/songwriter, it can best be described as musical poetry - or perhaps even as a literary soundscape. Regardless of what it is called, one thing is certain. It sounds like nothing else. Produced by Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine, EL VIAJE features Bill Frisell (guitars, loops), Viktor Krauss (bass), Eyvind Kang (viola, violin), Steve Moore (keyboards) and Martine (percussion). With this long-awaited new album, Gabriela is not only bound to delight her many fans around the world once again, but serve as a source of discovery for a burgeoning new audience, as well.

Gabriela is an Argentine-born singer/songwriter. The daughter of a diplomat, she spent her formative years in Portugal, Turkey, Ireland, Brazil and Argentina, absorbing a wealth of musical styles along the way. Living in Paris in the late ´60s, she worked in theatre and began her musical career, influenced mostly by The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and all the music she heard during her childhood travels, from Argentine tango to Mexican rancheras and Irish ballads. Gabriela returned to Argentina in the early ´70s, taking on a leading role in the musical movement that pioneered progressive rock music in Spanish. In 1973 she released her first recording, GABRIELA, and participated in the Argentine cult classic film, HASTA QUE SE PONGA EL SOL. In the late ´70s Gabriela moved to Los Angeles, where her distinctive voice and songwriting caught the attention of a number of influential musicians in the area. For her next recording, UBALE (1980), she selected a group of very special players creating a fusion between the magic of the West Coast music and her original songs sung in Spanish, once again breaking new musical ground that had never before been heard. She was joined by legendary figures such as Alex Acuña, David Lindley and Robben Ford. In the mid eighties Gabriela travelled to Sweden and followed with a third album, FRIENDSHIP, a collaboration with a group of all Swedish musicians.

At the end of the ´80s her music took a new, more experimental direction. Her next album, ALTAS PLANICIES, lived outside the mainstream of rock/pop/folk. These songs, poetic and elegant, were crafted with unusual instrumentation, influenced by a mix of minimalist aesthetics and South American spirit. ALTAS PLANICIES also contained an explosive fusion of musicians like Dino Saluzzi, David Lindley, Alex Acuña, Pino Marrone, and Pedro Aznar among others.

In 1996 a new chapter began for Gabriela, Acoustic Guitar Magazine described it as “one of the ´90s most fortuitous and memorable musical pairings,” the inspired collaboration with jazz guitarist and composer Bill Frisell.

In 1996, Frisell, enchanted by Gabriela´s music, passed it on to his producer, Lee Townsend, who signed her for the Songline/intuition series and produced her fifth album, DETRAS DEL SOL, featuring Bill Frisell on guitar, Alex Acuña on drums, Eyvind Kang on violin, Rob Burger on accordion, and Bill Douglass on bass. This album was highly praised by the American and German press; it won the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik award in 1997 and was chosen by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as one of the ten best albums of the decade.

Her next album, the cinematic VIENTO ROJO, was also recorded and produced by Lee Townsend for the Songline/Intuition series. At that point, Gabriela was looking for a floating sound, no drums involved. VIENTO ROJO was beautifully arranged by Bill Frisell featuring Eric Longsworth on cello, Jenny Scheinman on violin, Viktor Krauss on acoustic bass, and Bill Frisell on guitar. Newly released in Germany and even before its release in the U.S. this album was chosen by the prestigious show, Global Village, at Los Angeles´ radio station KPFK, as one of the best records of 1999.

Gabriela just finished recording her seventh and very potent new album in Seattle in December 2005, which will be released as EL VIAJE by German label intuition. This recording includes Bill Frisell on guitar, Viktor Krauss on acoustic bass, Tucker Martine on percussion, Eyvind Kang on viola and violin, and Steve Moore on keyboards. It was produced by Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine.

Gabriela currently lives in Argentina.