Mis Canciones: My Songs

1	Amor Enguayabado 2:36
2	Luna de Margarita 2:11
3	La Pena del Becerrero 4:37
4	Flor de Mayo 3:06
5	El Becerrito 3:08
6	Pasaje del Olvido 3:00
7	Presénteme Esa Muchacha 3:03
8	Aquel 3:23
9	Mi Querencia 2:59
10	Cristal 3:01
11	El Alcaravan 2:57
12	Clavelito Colorado 2:59
13	Mercedes 2:54
14	Caballo Viejo 2:37
15	Sabana 2:30

Barnes & Noble

Best known outside his homeland for "Caballo Viejo" -- a song that was an international hit twice, the first time by Roberto Torres and the second as the basis for the Gipsy Kings' smash "Bamboleo" -- Simon Diaz is an icon in Venezuela. His nearly half-century career has been marked by success in music, radio, and television, almost always as a homespun composer of Venezuelan country music, musica llanera. Diaz's compositions are so rustic, simple, and enduring that they are often mistaken for folk tunes; his closest analogue in the States might be Woody Guthrie. Despite his international acclaim by artists as varied as Caetano Veloso, Celia Cruz, and Pedro Almodóvar, Diaz has never before recorded for the American market. Mis Canciones is a wonderful introduction, beautifully recorded and honestly performed. Diaz's light, quiet voice canters sprightly over harp, maraca, and cuatro (the diminutive four-string guitar of the Andes). English translations make it easy to be affected by Diaz's lyrics, steeped in the naturalistic imagery of the plains, of cowboys, ranchers, farmers, and dreamers. The masterful "Caballo Viejo," for example, frames May-December love in terms of an old horse set loose in the plains and encountering a young filly. "Love has no schedule / Nor calendar date," as the lyrics translate, "But an old horse cannot lose the flower he's given / Because after this life, There's no other opportunity." Fortunately for millions of listeners over the decades, Diaz has taken advantage of every second, every note -- and this old horse is still going strong. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

One of the most venerated singers and songwriters in Venezuela, Simon Díaz is a country boy at heart, with an acoustic sound and a way with melodies and words. This CD, his American debut after decades of fame in Latin America, offers new recordings of some of his classic songs, including his most famous, "Caballo Viejo," which became the international smash "Bamboleo" in the hands of the Gipsy Kings. Díaz has been compared to Willie Nelson, and it's an apt analogy: both have a homespun simplicity that covers a lot of depth. He's a gifted, spiritual writer with a laid-back voice, which is well suited to the acoustic arrangements. All of the material here is well-known, not only in Venezuela, but all across the Latin countries, whether it's the lovely lilt of "Luna de Margarita" or the gossamer beauty of "Sabana." That Díaz is a major talent is a fact; finally the United States can discover him. Chris Nickson