Pink Martini – Andalucia

The origins of the band lie in the fact that the founder - Thomas Lauderdale - came across bad music at many charity events and wanted to change that. With considerable success ...

As a young American politician, Pink Martini founder Thomas Lauderdale went to many charity events. As is so often the case, he obviously not only met the usual suspects there, but also repeatedly encountered “unconvincing, lackluster, loud and unneighborly” music. So in 1994 he founded “Pink Martini” and later the record label “Heinz”, named after his dog. I would say that this was not the typical act of a classic politician and in fact the politician became a musician who contributed a lot to international understanding through his international and inclusive music. Together with his Harvard colleague China Forbes, he began writing his own songs a year later and the first one exploded like a grenade. Pink Martini made a sensational debut in France in 1997 with Sympathique. The refrain “I don’t want to work” is still sung today by striking French men and women during strikes. Andalucia is on the album of the same name, which I chose because it creates wonderful stereo effects and a high level of spatiality on the soundboard. An excellent recording of the song, which was originally written by Ernesto Lecuona in 1928 and of course sings of love for Andalusia. The whole album and also later albums by Pink Martini have an excellent recording quality. After 20 years, a new version of the album was released, which now also includes Ravel’s Bolero, after 20 years of legal disputes over the use of the song. Unfortunately, this edition cannot be found on any of the music services.