Josephine Foster and The Victor Herrero Band - Anda Jaleo / Perlas Josephine Foster and The Victor Herrero Band

Anda Jaleo was originally released in 2010. Federico García Lorca's popular folk song collection Las Canciones Populares Españolas was banned under Franco's dictatorship and today the music survives but marginally within the Spanish sub-conscious. Taking their cue from Lorca and La Argentinita's infectious 1931 recording of the songs, Josephine Foster and her partner, Spanish musician Víctor Herrero, arranged the poetically rich collection for their acoustic band, formed while living in the Grenadine Sierra. Anda Jaleo is the band's live recording of Las Canciones; a visceral celebration of the persistence of popular anonymous song. This new edition includes an additional track not featured on the original release, an interpretation of Sones de Asturias.

Following from Anda Jaleo, Josephine Foster and the Victor Herrero Band created a superb follow-up entitled Perlas (Pearls). It is a jewel of a collection, with songs and poems selected by Josephine herself, gathered from dusty old scores and brought vividly to the present with warm performances full of flesh-and-blood emotion. Made with a variety of stringed instruments and simple percussion, the songs were recorded live in the studio onto analogue tape by Paco Loco in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. Foster breathes new life into timeless traditional melodies, drawing from the Spanish-folk traditions of Castile, the Basque, Santander and the Costa Brava.