Soñar del Laberinto &The Watermelon Years 1991-1992

Review by: Dirty Linen

by Kerry Dexter

While singer/composer Tish Hinojosa is working on a new album, two of the companies she's recorded for have put out new projects related to her past work. Soñar del Laberinto is an all-Spanish version of last year's bilingual U.S. release, Dreaming from the Labyrinth. WEA International intends it for Mexican and Central American distribution, primarily. Despite her Hispanic roots, this will be the first time Hinojosa's had exposure in that market. Songwriting vision of her caliber is rare enough in any language, so what she is doing will be as unique there as it is in the U.S. If you speak both languages, you will enjoy this disc even if you've already got the bilingual one. The songs are basically the same ones, but it is intriguing to follow the paths of the ideas presented completely in Spanish.

Hinojosa connected with Watermelon Records, based in her hometown of Austin, at a time when she was in between labels. The collaboration resulted in three albums -- a live recording of a concert for the Cinco de Mayo holiday, a Christmas album that was originally intended just as a gift for friends, and the release on CD of the artist's first self-produced project,Taos to Tennessee. Fourteen selections from these discs are here, and there are four previously unreleased cuts as well. Kris Kristofferson duets on "By the Rio Grande," a track planned for an A&M album that wasn't issued, and there are three songs from the Cinco de Mayo performance: the farmworker anthem "De Colores," the love ballad "Eres Tu," and Violetta Parra's "Gracias a la Vida." It's a graceful portrait of Hinojosa as both interpreter and composer of songs -- and an instructive counterpoint to Soñar del Laberinto to follow the ways in which her talent is evolving.

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