Carlos Vives

This cd was just ok, it has some amazing songs like "Fruta Fresca" but i've he has better cds.

Like many Colombians, I've known about Carlos Vives from his days of Clasicos de la Provincia in 1993. Vives takes provincial music from Colombia (vallenato and cumbia, among numerous others) and infuses them with a spirituality and depth that makes the music all the more worthy. El Amore De Mi Tierra is no different. Vives pulls from various fountains of Colombian music and turns them into flowing, rhythmic world music that is accessable to all peoples. The collection here is very good. While "Fruta Fresca" is the track that most people are familiar with, "La Piragua" is definately the best track on the album. An update of a classic Colombian cumbia song, Vives's take on "La Piragua" turns the song into a lush fable full of earthy melodies and a spirit of the Amazon without forskaing the song's musical roots. For those who are new to Carlos Vives, this album is a great place to start.

I first heard this record when I was in Colombia about 3 years ago and have subsequently bought the CD 6 times. Every visitor from the US or UK who hears it asks me about it and I usually end up giving it away.
Knowing Spanish will help you enjoy this more - but even without it, the rythm of the music feeds into you.
I own several of CVivas's CDs, but keep coming back to this one.

(Que me perdonen la falta de acentos. Estoy usando editor ingles.)

Compre El Amor De Mi Tierra porque me gusto mucho Clasicos de La Provincia. Aparte, aca la cancion "Fruita Fresca," habia pegado muy fuerte y queria oir el resto del CD

Senti un poquito desilusionada con my compra. Abajo veras porque:

La Letra

La letra de la mayoria de las canciones es lindo, impactante, memorable.

Peero . . .

La Voz De Carlos Vives

Ok, se que todas sus fanaticas me van a matar, pero no creo que el canta especialmente bien. No se si el fuma, pero si SI, debe de dejarlo.

La Musica

Opino que los musicos son las verdaderas estrellas de Amor de Mi Tierra. Me encanta el acordeon y los arreglos son buenos.

La Mejor Cancion

No puedo explicar exactamente porque no me gustaban la mayoria de las canciones. Una que SI me encanto era 19 de Noviembre. Es excelente, bailable, buena letra. Tiene de todo.

En fin. Si eres super super fanatica de Carlos Vives, comprate este disco! Si no, pues, ahorrate los 15 dolares.

Aparte, quisiera ver mas musica de distintas artistas Colombianas--especialmente algunas caras negras. Shakira y Carlos son OK, pero son los unicos en Colombia que saben cantar?

Carlos, you had me at the cover art to this CD! You didn't have to sing about wanting to be my mouth-exploding Caramelo that also melts in my hands!

A pretty face will catch one's eye, but this guy has got the audio thing going on too. He sings in that lovely Colombian accent that tends to drop final consonants, as if they were extraneous candy wrappers ("honey, just throw those dirty candy wrappers out of the bus window"). All of this over a lilting Afro-Caribe beat, you know, the one Paul Simon wrested for "Graceland" and "Rythym of the Saints". But this is home-cooked Vallenato, leg/hip candy at its finest.

High boiling point, hard-ball confectionry. Um, um, um.

I Loved his CD!! It's been a big hit since ''La Tierra del Olvido" I absolutely loved it!!! I would give it 10 Stars! I would recommend it!

This music is very adictive. I can't stop listening to it. I have put the cd on my alarm clock and it is wonderful to wake up to.
Even if you are not a fan of latin music you should try Carlos Vives and you might become one.

This cd is awesome. I like every song on it because they are all so good. I reccomend this cd even to people who don't speak spanish because you can dance to it.

Admittedly if I had reviewed this album a year ago when I first purchased it, it would not have scored so high in the ranking because I was not attracted to this music at all and as a result I neglected to listen to the album for a year. I recently played it again to see if my opinion had changed and believe me my reception was completely different. This is a great album and although it has typical Carlos Vives nuances the rhythms are very Caribbean and that of Carlos'modern vallenato. I would say this album is a mellower version of his previous production "El amor de mi tierra" which I think is a tremendous one no doubt. This one offers a variety of musical rhythms and I don't know how he managed it but the influence of many genres of music can be heard throughout the album, Afro beats, rock, son, cumbia all have been well blended into Carlos' unique modern vallenato style. In a nutshell, if you have some previous music from Carlos Vives and if you like afro-Caribbean rhythms this production will catch your attention. It's definitely for listeners and dancers of vallenato and for those who can appreciate his unique style. I am glad I gave this album a second chance.

este no es simplemente otro disco del artista tropical mas popular de latinoamerica, es la ultima obra de un rockero innvador de principios de nuevo milenio, que gracias a su experimentación dentro de la variedad cultural y musical de la costa atlantica Colombiana, mezclada con otros ritmos regionales latinoamericanos y porsupuesto con tendencias pop, rock, reegae, y hasta techno ha logrado un sonido elite y muy propio. En sus discos se manifiesta una evolución drastica, un compromiso personal por hacer cada vez mas interesante y conteporaneo su trabajo sin perder su sentido comercial. Enhorabuena para Vives.

I live in Panama and two nights ago had the great pleasure of going to Carlos Vives' concert, on his "Rock de mi Pueblo" tour. If you have a chance to catch part of this tour, do so. His live act is marvelous, a great way to see him and all of his talented musicians in action. His love for Colombia and attachment to his musical roots are still strong and come across in every piece. This collection is not as traditional-sounding as his previous ones, but he's stretching and trying out new stuff, always with great musical talent and creativity. I just hope he doesn't stray too far from Colombia's beloved vallenato style and lose it in the process. I lived in Colombia in the 1990's, when his career was taking off, and to me, Carlos Vives IS Colombia. I hear him and I'm transported back to this most beautiful but badly maligned country. Que viva por siempre el amor de mi tierra!

I heard Carlos Vives for the first time when I was travelling in Colombia (for the first time) for Christmas of 1993. At that time, "Clasicos de la Provincia" had just been released in Colombia, and although at that young age of 22 I was a big fan of salsa and merengue music (and could dance it) I had never heard anything like vallenato music. Throughout my month long trip, I listened to that album over and over again (luckily I can speak Spanish) and fell in love with both the album and the country. Because of this, Carlos Vives' music for me signifies what Colombia itself is. And it continues to do this. True, his music has evolved since then, but so has the country itself. Times do change and music is never stagnant. However, his newest album does not seem to be any big departure from his former albums. While Clasicos and Tengo Fe were more attuned to a traditional vallenato sound, as early as La Tierra del Olvido, Carlos Vives was making these blended types of sounds - his traditional music mixed with some pop and rock. Let's not forget that he was a rock/pop musician BEFORE he did Clasicos de la Provincia and his earlier La Escalona. Rock de Mi Pueblo has some wonderful sounds, and yes a few songs may not be to someone's liking, but in the end Carlos is continuing to speak for a nation, something he does very well. If you are a fan of his music, you should get this album.... it's like being transported to Colombia in a big festive chiva. Que chimba !!

This awesome album purely reflects the evolution of Colombian music.
I consider Carlos Vives an ambassador of Contemporary Colombian Folkloric music, and even though many people have been disappointed with this new album, because its too poppy and/or too rock oriented; I will say to you, as a Colombian musician, performer of Jazz and Colombian Folklore, that this album still preserves the same Colombian features as the other passed albums. This is just a much modern concept of Colombian music; and if you really pay attention to what's going on in the music, you will see that every single song has a pure Colombian taste. Yes... OK!!! maybe the traditional instrumentation is not too strong and its covered by all the guitars, drums and keyboards. But, what is really interesting though, is that this traditional sound is being kept within the electric guitars and drums, and all this modern stuff.(I might be getting a little technical here, but bare with me), if you listen closely to what every musician in the band is doing, (which by the way I think they're phenomenal and extremely talented), you will see that the essence of the music is the same. For instance, if you listen to some of the guitar solos, like "gallito de caramelo" the phrases and melodic lines of it are purely vallenato and afro-Colombian, and so with many other aspects, like the drummer playing some of the licks as if he was a caja vallenata player(caja vallenata is a special Colombian drum used to play Vallenato music)or the harmonizations used in the choruses and verses of the songs; they are purely afro-Colombian sounding.
I really don't think that this album is rock with some Colombian sound to it, I think what Carlos Vives did, was going one step further from where he was before, going into a more contemporary aproach without changing anything from the traditional folklore sound. He kept his roots all the way, even if its not so obvious at first.
I highly recomend this album to everybody, specially to those who are involved with Colombian music.
Carlos Vives and his band La Provincia have done a tremendous job bringing this music to another level and to another musical perspective...
Truly... a Colombian pride...

I hated this album when I first heard it, I hated it for many listens after that. I only liked one song "La llamada" which was 100% Carlos Vives in previous albums. Then I walked away from it...

I originally thought like everyone else. This was a rock album infused with some latin rhythms, where as his previous albums were vallenato albums with some rock influences.

A few weeks later and I am loving it. It's not a Rock album!!!... Let me explain. There is no doubt that the instrumentation is rock based, guitars and drums have been placed up front, whereas the traditional instruments are now in the background in a more subtle way. But it is NOT a rock album, the melodies and rhythms of most of this album are 100% Columbian. Listen to "La Maravilla", "La Llamada", "La Princessa y el Soldado", "Gallito de Caramelo"... imagine those songs with the traditional Columbian instrumentation OR block out the guitars and drums when listening to it - IT IS VINTAGE CARLOS VIVES.

I believe putting the guitars up front shocks everyone so people (myself included) forgot about the melody and refused to continue listening. If Carlos Vives remixed this album and put the rock instrumentation in the background it would be huge, maybe as huge as Dejame Entrar. In saying that I wouldn't want him to. Now that I have found the treasure I am really loving this album, even with the rock instrumentation. Even my wife is beginning to enjoy it, she also hated it to start with.

I refused to buy this album when I first heard it (I have all the Vives album) but I've changed my mind on that. I got my copy. I'm glad I never wrote my original thoughts on this album.

As a Colombian, I have always appreciated Vives' music...he brought back Vallenato for everyone in and outside Colombia.. When I heard of this album the first thing I thought was that he was trying to compete with others (like Juanes) for attention in the music market. Frankly, I was afraid of the outcome. However, I am surprised to say that this new album is great because it did not surprise me that much...I feel that there really is not much "rock" as everyone seems to point out, if anything except for two or three songs, vallenato and cumbia are still pretty dominant in his music. "Gallito de Caramelo," "Llamada" and "Maleta de Suenos" all sound like they could have easily come out of one of his previous albums. In my opinion, the most drastically changed song was "Santa Marta-Kingston-New Orleans" and only because he incorporated reggae rhythms into it. I believe the change in this new album is not that significant to se so shocked like the rest of the reviewers seem to be... if anything he has not left his roots behind and has incorporated new ones. I mean artists need to change with the times or else be prepared to face oblivion. In conclusion, buy the album, it's fun to listen to but besides the new "rockish" attire Vives seems to be wearing these days and the lack of his band mates, don't expect that much to have changed!

This Vives' superb 1994 musical debut brought the amazing vallenato musical tradition to world consciousness. CLÁSICOS is a collection of twentieth-century Colombian vallenatos, a muscial form originally played with stick, drum and accordion, but here updated to include an impressive array of drums and electric instruments. This is coastal dance music, what Colombians listen to when they party, and it is simply intoxicating.

The classic heavy-groove "La Gota Fria"--radically different than Emiliano Zuleta's original-- kicks the disc off with its story of duelling musicians, and is followed by love songs, laments and even a track ("Alicia Adorada") which filters reggae through Latin sensibilities. From classic portraits of vallenato life-- the town drunk of "Compae Chipuco"-- to love songs like "Amor Sensible," Vives' collection explores the genre's best tunes.

Vives' band, La Provincia, includes members whose fathers wrote some of the tunes, and all are superb players. The music is fluid, supple, deeply groovy and compulsively danceable. The band-- and disc's-- highlight, however, is the awesome accordeon playing of Egidio Cuadrado. As a Guatemalan friend put it, "Jimi Hendrix was the Egidio Cuadrado of the electric guitar," and if so, "Purple Haze" must be Hendrix' guitar version of "Pedazo de Acordeon." Cuadrado, like Keith Richards or Bob Mould, drops blasts of rhythm, then drifts away into sly fragments of solos and back, all in a breath.

The album's genesis is also interesting. Vives was originally a Colombian soap-opera actor and rock musician (who wrote some really bad Colombian rock songs and ballads). He was approached by Colombian TV to play the role of the still-living Rafael Escalona, who is to vallenato what Hank Williams is to country, or Charlie Parker is to jazz, in an 8-part midly fictionalised version of Escalona's life. Vives and band formed to perform the songs, and then decided to record and release them. Vives'music has been dramatically changed by this recording--his latin pop now has a vallenato feel, and staples of his concerts are these tunes.

Another legend of note-- vallenato music was supposedly originally born in mythical time, when acordeón player Francisco El Hombre met the Devil, who told him that his time was over. Francisco challenged the Devil to a musical duel, beat him, and thus was born vallenato (a story echoed in the Brer Rabbit folktales of North America, and in "The Devil and Daniel Webster").

The Escalona film is interesting; the music sensational, and this was the disc that brought vallenato to first a non-Colombian and then world audience, and which paved the way for other artists sucvh as Juanes and Shakira.

Vives is also a superb live player and a fairly entertaining guy-- if he comes to your area, make the effort to see him, especially if Cuadrado is on acordeón.

"La Gota Fria" (translated "The Cold Drop") was the drop that filled the bucket, back when Carlos Vives broke into the forefront of the Latin American radio airwaves. He busted in with a blend of Colombian folklore music (vallenato) with rock instruments that was not just original, but also sounded amazingly contagious. Within a few months, everyone knew who he was and the rest became history.

After this album, he had a stream of releases, all of which have been up to the public's expectation, maintaining a seamless combination of the genres with lyrics that get you off your feet, either to dance, to fall back laughing or to kiss your loved one. Carlos Vives knows how to do it, and he does it well.

Loved his CDs, love his music, love his voice...He never dissapoints you, a must buy!!!

Carlos Vives will probably be remembered as the man who globalized Colombian music and musicians.

Clasicos de la Provincia is where it started. Being a Colombian, I really like vallenato. Even though Carlos didn't use the pure original rhythm, this CD is wholly based on it, adding modern sounds such as guitars.

Most of the songs are old classics, and they're top quality by their own. Yet, Carlos Vives manages to create a powerful mixture and made them accesible to another audience. Great combination, great energy... overall, a must-have if you like this type of thing!!! 5 stars.

Bought this CD as a present for hubby and we played it in the car driving through the Canadian Rockies and were just blown away.We had so much fun and listened to it over and over. The bighorn sheep even loved it. It sounds good everywhere and is just a masterpiece. Run to buy it and his last three as well, especially Fruta Fresca.

The CD came in great condition. I've bought things from this company before and been pleased. It seemed to take forever to get here, when I'd ordered other CDs from other vendors on the same day, and they had arrived two weeks prior. It's true, they came right within the dates they said they would, but nonetheless it took three weeks.

I don't know about the BEST ever, but it IS a very good choral sampler. The range of period music, styles, and choruses is a great sampling of choral music, ranging from Gregorian to McCartney; the bombastic to the serene; the familiar to the lesser known. The quality of the recordings (from different times and places) is very good. It would make a good intro to choral music CD, or just a very enjoyable collection of choral works by a wide range of composers. It does, indeed, demonstrate what the human voice in harmony with others is capable of.

This album is filled with collection excellent choral music. Many are old favorites of mine and many were new to me. The performances were outstanding. In some cases I have selections in my collection that I consider better than those on this album; however, I suggest that you buy it. It is beautiful!!

On a negative note, the first copy I received was new media and had a scratch which rendered the last two tracks unreadable.

Amazon was quick to credit my account, pay return shipping and the second copy was free from defects. Bravo!!

This is the first collection of choral music that I've purchased and I love it. I own copies of operas and requiems and masses, but if you attend choral concerts, as I have been recently, you learn there is a huge colletion of choral music appart from the forms I've been listening to. I appreciate the producers selecting "Song for Athene" by Tavener and "Celebration (Standing Stone)" by McCartney. They are new to me and I love them. Disk 1 ends with "Jerusalem" and Disk 2 ends with "Land of Hope and Glory." As an American I rarely hear these and I am so glad they were included. I believe this album was intended to help popularize choral music and I believe the selections do fine job towards that end.

I know snobs rage against popularizing classical music, but everyone deserves exposure to the beauty of song. I will also mention here "The East Village Opera Company" because they work to popularize opera by setting it to a rock beat. They do a fine job but also get criticized for attempting to popularize classical music.

"The Best Choral Album in the World...Ever" was so popular with my teen-age daughter that it was hard to get it back from her. I give the album as a gift to nephews and nieces.

The music selections are extraordinary. The only problem has to do with the balance of sound. There are some parts that are very loud, and some that are so very soft. You have to continually adjust the volume.

To Amazon.com staff:

I'm very happy with the cd of Carlos Vives, my main man. I enjoyed the cd of his album from 1995 called La Tierra del Olvido. At this time, I will continue to purchase all of my requested cds and dvds with amazon.com forever and forever. You guys from amazon.com are the best.

Yours Truly,



Ricardo Fonseca

This is not a new title. I owned it before. Lost it--you don't want to know how--and "could not live without it" so I order it again... Very enjoyable. The "Diosa Coronada" is one of the best. The accordion, the liveliness of it all, the flutes...and Carlos, of course; all the touches are there to create a thoroughly enjoyable CD. I highly recommend it...

LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO is officially the first Carlos Vives album I have ever purchased. In all honesty, I don't know why I waited so long. I have always enjoyed the beautiful vallenatos of Colombia (upbeat numbers featuring traditional instruments, as well as accordion accompaniment), as well as other genres that have roots in that country. Vives was originally a soap opera (or novela) actor in his country, and then began to bridge the gap between cultures and musical genres through his distinctive and artistic style. His vocals are upbeat, bright and energetic, and he has a wonderful band, that only enhances his sound.

This album features great vallenatos like "Pa' Mayte'" (incidentally, this was a song I had searched for for months and couldn't for the life of me think of the title! It must have been fate that this was the first cut on the CD!), "Fidelina," and "Rosa." The lyrics are rich with double entendre and allude simultaneously to the beauty of the nature, as well as the beauty of women. There is a certain elegant quality whenever Vives delivers the words and vocals. This is an elegance missing from much of the contemporary pop music being forcefed to the masses. Particularly, I have had trouble stomaching the "rock en espanol" and "Latin pop" route that Spanish language music has taken (with the exception of Juanes, another wonderful artist from Colombia, who is just incomparable). Though, some have pegged Vives as part of the "Latin explosion" tribe, I beg to differ. This man's music is no fad. He truly wishes to transcend language and cultural barriers to bring the music of his people to the masses. After hearing LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO, I can't wait to hear more of his later albums, just to savor the beauty of the syncopation, orchestration and composition of La Musica Colombiana. Que viva la raza!

Se lo compre a mi hermana por el dia de las madres

Excellent! Carlos Vives has done an amzing job in this record I can feel CULTURE every time I listen to it, even my 10 month old baby likes it...Definetly very talented, all the musicians that play with him are good specially the accordionist.I imagine that colombians must be very proud to have such a good artist. Thank you Carlos Vives.

Claro, no se parece a los otros de Carlitos. PERO, de vez en cuando se me hace que alguien debe tratar algo nuevo. Me facina Interior, es preciosa, Que Diera tambien es preciosa y Malas Lenguas me parece perfecta. Tiene un buen sentido del humor (sp?) Y tiene canciones tiernas que me hicieron llorar. Me facina todo lo que canta Carlitos, sus Vallenatos tienen tanto sentimiento, Y facina que cuando canta, uno le nota la sonrisa en su vos.

me encanta la musica de vives. De sus trabajos , esta es la excepcion. Aqui no encontramos ni el ritmo,ni el espiritu de la musica que lo caracteriza, y el resultado es un cd totalmente obviable, que no aporta nada a la notables producciones de este interprete.( afortunadamente retoma su mejor estilo en el siguiente ¨el amor de mi tierra¨

I went in search of Vives' disks after realizing that he was the singer of La Gota Fria (which apparently is no longer available). I'm a big fan of Cuban music, and I'm just getting into some Columbian. Though I liked a few of these songs, they are too "pop" for my tastes. Some even bordered on the cheesy. I don't mean anything against Vives since his other disks have been better, but I really am not very fond of this CD.

Carlos Vives is an international treasure, and deserves popularity far beyond the Spanish-speaking world. His previous CD, La Tierra del Olvido, is one of the best disks of the 90s in any language. This one is darker and much less exuberant. There are only one or two toe-tapping dance tunes (and those are in minor keys), fewer love songs (and those are all about love lost, not love present). That said, Tengo Fe is strong and admirable. It continues Vives' project of making Columbian roots-pop, although the accents here are decidedly more on the European ballad style and less on polyrhythms and traditional instruments, especially on the first half of the disk. One suspects a bid for the Julio Iglesias market. Lyrically, the disk is more sophisticated and interesting than Vives' previous work. Los Buenos Tiempos, for instance, evokes a familiar image from Vives' countryman Garcia Marquez, the train line that brings economic development and environmental destruction to the interior, but treats the tradeoffs with more respect than Garcia Marquez's romanticized approach. My favorite songs are the lovely title track, a love-lost/peace-found ballad, Sol de Mediodia, something of a protest song about work, Cumbia Americana, a slinky, syncopated dance number, and the nursery-rhyme-based Caballito. If you are at all interested in Vives and don't already own it, buy Tierra del Olvido immediately, then come back for Tengo Fe if you want more.

Carlos Vives is the second best Latin singer in the world. If you love Juan Gabriel, you will love Carlos Vives

This Vives' superb 1994 musical debut brought the amazing vallenato musical tradition to world consciousness. CLÁSICOS is a collection of twentieth-century Colombian vallenatos, a muscial form originally played with stick, drum and accordion, but here updated to include an impressive array of drums and electric instruments. This is coastal dance music, what Colombians listen to when they party, and it is simply intoxicating.

The classic heavy-groove "La Gota Fria"--radically different than Emiliano Zuleta's original-- kicks the disc off with its story of duelling musicians, and is followed by love songs, laments and even a track ("Alicia Adorada") which filters reggae through Latin sensibilities. From classic portraits of vallenato life-- the town drunk of "Compae Chipuco"-- to love songs like "Amor Sensible," Vives' collection explores the genre's best tunes.

Vives' band, La Provincia, includes members whose fathers wrote some of the tunes, and all are superb players. The music is fluid, supple, deeply groovy and compulsively danceable. The band-- and disc's-- highlight, however, is the awesome accordeon playing of Egidio Cuadrado. As a Guatemalan friend put it, "Jimi Hendrix was the Egidio Cuadrado of the electric guitar," and if so, "Purple Haze" must be Hendrix' guitar version of "Pedazo de Acordeon." Cuadrado, like Keith Richards or Bob Mould, drops blasts of rhythm, then drifts away into sly fragments of solos and back, all in a breath.

The album's genesis is also interesting. Vives was originally a Colombian soap-opera actor and rock musician (who wrote some really bad Colombian rock songs and ballads). He was approached by Colombian TV to play the role of the still-living Rafael Escalona, who is to vallenato what Hank Williams is to country, or Charlie Parker is to jazz, in an 8-part midly fictionalised version of Escalona's life. Vives and band formed to perform the songs, and then decided to record and release them. Vives'music has been dramatically changed by this recording--his latin pop now has a vallenato feel, and staples of his concerts are these tunes.

Another legend of note-- vallenato music was supposedly originally born in mythical time, when acordeón player Francisco El Hombre met the Devil, who told him that his time was over. Francisco challenged the Devil to a musical duel, beat him, and thus was born vallenato (a story echoed in the Brer Rabbit folktales of North America, and in "The Devil and Daniel Webster").

The Escalona film is interesting; the music sensational, and this was the disc that brought vallenato to first a non-Colombian and then world audience, and which paved the way for other artists sucvh as Juanes and Shakira.

Vives is also a superb live player and a fairly entertaining guy-- if he comes to your area, make the effort to see him, especially if Cuadrado is on acordeón.

"La Gota Fria" (translated "The Cold Drop") was the drop that filled the bucket, back when Carlos Vives broke into the forefront of the Latin American radio airwaves. He busted in with a blend of Colombian folklore music (vallenato) with rock instruments that was not just original, but also sounded amazingly contagious. Within a few months, everyone knew who he was and the rest became history.

After this album, he had a stream of releases, all of which have been up to the public's expectation, maintaining a seamless combination of the genres with lyrics that get you off your feet, either to dance, to fall back laughing or to kiss your loved one. Carlos Vives knows how to do it, and he does it well.

Loved his CDs, love his music, love his voice...He never dissapoints you, a must buy!!!

Carlos Vives will probably be remembered as the man who globalized Colombian music and musicians.

Clasicos de la Provincia is where it started. Being a Colombian, I really like vallenato. Even though Carlos didn't use the pure original rhythm, this CD is wholly based on it, adding modern sounds such as guitars.

Most of the songs are old classics, and they're top quality by their own. Yet, Carlos Vives manages to create a powerful mixture and made them accesible to another audience. Great combination, great energy... overall, a must-have if you like this type of thing!!! 5 stars.

Bought this CD as a present for hubby and we played it in the car driving through the Canadian Rockies and were just blown away.We had so much fun and listened to it over and over. The bighorn sheep even loved it. It sounds good everywhere and is just a masterpiece. Run to buy it and his last three as well, especially Fruta Fresca.

To Amazon.com staff:

I'm very happy with the cd of Carlos Vives, my main man. I enjoyed the cd of his album from 1995 called La Tierra del Olvido. At this time, I will continue to purchase all of my requested cds and dvds with amazon.com forever and forever. You guys from amazon.com are the best.

Yours Truly,



Ricardo Fonseca

This is not a new title. I owned it before. Lost it--you don't want to know how--and "could not live without it" so I order it again... Very enjoyable. The "Diosa Coronada" is one of the best. The accordion, the liveliness of it all, the flutes...and Carlos, of course; all the touches are there to create a thoroughly enjoyable CD. I highly recommend it...

LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO is officially the first Carlos Vives album I have ever purchased. In all honesty, I don't know why I waited so long. I have always enjoyed the beautiful vallenatos of Colombia (upbeat numbers featuring traditional instruments, as well as accordion accompaniment), as well as other genres that have roots in that country. Vives was originally a soap opera (or novela) actor in his country, and then began to bridge the gap between cultures and musical genres through his distinctive and artistic style. His vocals are upbeat, bright and energetic, and he has a wonderful band, that only enhances his sound.

This album features great vallenatos like "Pa' Mayte'" (incidentally, this was a song I had searched for for months and couldn't for the life of me think of the title! It must have been fate that this was the first cut on the CD!), "Fidelina," and "Rosa." The lyrics are rich with double entendre and allude simultaneously to the beauty of the nature, as well as the beauty of women. There is a certain elegant quality whenever Vives delivers the words and vocals. This is an elegance missing from much of the contemporary pop music being forcefed to the masses. Particularly, I have had trouble stomaching the "rock en espanol" and "Latin pop" route that Spanish language music has taken (with the exception of Juanes, another wonderful artist from Colombia, who is just incomparable). Though, some have pegged Vives as part of the "Latin explosion" tribe, I beg to differ. This man's music is no fad. He truly wishes to transcend language and cultural barriers to bring the music of his people to the masses. After hearing LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO, I can't wait to hear more of his later albums, just to savor the beauty of the syncopation, orchestration and composition of La Musica Colombiana. Que viva la raza!

Se lo compre a mi hermana por el dia de las madres

Excellent! Carlos Vives has done an amzing job in this record I can feel CULTURE every time I listen to it, even my 10 month old baby likes it...Definetly very talented, all the musicians that play with him are good specially the accordionist.I imagine that colombians must be very proud to have such a good artist. Thank you Carlos Vives.

Por favor... la persona que sepa donde puedo conseguir la novela en VHS o DVD me lo podria informar escribiendo a mi email andromeda17pr@yahoo.com