TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC FROM ASTURIES
DRD was created for a series of concerts called Folk de Cámara (Chamber Folk Music) in 2003. DRD perform a mixture of traditional dance music and songs, and on a mixture of Asturian traditional instruments such as flute and fiddle, as well as on guitar and bouzouki.
DRD recorded their first album "Namái" in 2005 (with guest Irish piper, Jarlath Henderson). It was nominated in the category of Best Folk Album of the Year for AMAS Award and for "Premios de la Música" Award in the categories of Best Breakthrough artist, Best Traditional Album, Best Folk Song (for Mañena), and Rubén Bada for Best Producer (in Namái) and Sergio Rodriguez for Best recording technician (in Namái).
In 2008 their second cd came out!. The album was nominated for AMAS Award in the category of Best Folk Album of the Year and some tunes are included in the soundtrack of the television series "Doctor Mateo", the Spanish version of "Doc Martin" which premiered in Antena 3 with an average audience of just over 4.5 million viewers.
They also appear in compilations like "New Folk, Roots and Traditional Music from Northern Ireland" published by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission, "37 Festival Interceltique de Lorient" the official cd of this famous festival and in other albums with Asturian singers like Mari Luz Cristobal Caunedo or Toli Morilla.
In 2005, they were awarded by the Spanish Youth Council. For that, they was playing in a series of high profile concerts all around Spain. Since then, they toured over Portugal, Brittany, Ireland, Germany. playing in the best festivals and auditoriums.
Members
* BORJA BARAGAñO (wooden flutes).
He's one of the most appreciated and respected flute player of Asturies. Borja plays (and teaches) Asturian bagpipes too and he is the pipe major of Asturian pipe bands "Mieres del Camín" and "La Viga Travesá". He also plays in the celtic band Llangres.
* DOLFU R. FERNÁDEZ (fiddle, vocals).
He's a fiddler who has been working within the Asturian traditional music scene for more than ten years. Dolfu's mother family were singers and he adapts this singing style to his own fiddling. Dolfu has also contributed in a constructive way to the rebirth of the Asturian fiddle tradition. He currently divides his time between playing with La Bandina’l Tombo and Llangres and teaching music and Asturian language in the Primary School.
* RUBÉN BADA (bouzouki, guitar, fiddle).
He's an important part of the Asturian music scene. In fact, in 2006 Rub�n was awarded "Best Instrumentalist" in the Asturian Music Awards '05. Currently, he's part of the Irish scene too, playing with John Mcsherry and Dónal O'Connor's "At First Light" band touring all over the World.
Reviews
"DRD - TTT [which means it's a very good album]. A joyful and exuberant album" Philippe Cousin, Chroniques. Trad Magazine
"A sparkling music as cider -Asturian national drink- celebrated in song Moxeca." Philippe Cousin, Musiques de Celtie. Le Peuple Breton
"DRD: Air for the future. DRD offer a contemporary reading in line with other big bands of Celtic Europe from the Asturian musical tradition . A line in which the nudity is merely formal condition of an intense music, exciting and true." Ignaciu Llope, Anuariu de la Musica Asturiana
"DRD is one of the most prominent names in the Asturian scene. They reinterpret the traditional music of this land in a very attractive way" "They're three of the best folk musicians in Asturies. Simple instruments with complex arrangements. Traditional rhythms with a new air" Agenda Fnac '09
"The 10 best albums of the year: DRD - DRD: Good taste, good work and feeling" Ramon Lluis Bande. Les Noticies
"A trio who recovers hidden themes of popular music to be presented with an elegant package" Jose Cezon. El Comercio.
"(DRD is) one of the most innovative formations of the Asturian folk scene". Victor Rodriguez, Agenda Fnac.
"In Asturies there are new formations of a high artistic quality. Between them an emphasized place occupies the trio DRD". Emilio Españadero, El Correo Gallego.
"(DRD) are an exciting and innovative new voice in European folk music". Kieran Gilmore, 7th Open House Festival.
"DRD is an acoustic trio that breaks schemes with a harmonic unusual texture and an expressionist contrast sound. Elegant and meticulous work". Maria Pidal, El Comercio.
"(Namái) is an excellent cd, of personal, unmistakably Asturian sound and that opens the way of these bands of few musicians and simple instrumentation but with great inspiration and sonorous power". Xune Elipe, Anuariu de la Musica Asturiana.
"(Namai is) sweet, almost aromatic … definitively, too nice". Miguel Angel Martinez, Murciafolk.com
