Armando Tirelli - El Profeta (Reissue) (1978/1997)

Armando Tirelli was the keyboardist and primary composer for the Uruguayan soft-rock/jazz group SEXTETO ELECTRONICO MODERNO beginning in the late sixties. That band released four studio albums before emigrating to Mexico under the name ËXODO in the mid-seventies. Tirelli moved on to release his lone solo album "El Profeta", a symphonic and spoken-word thematic effort based on the poetic novel 'The Prophet' by Lebanese writer and sixties counter-culture icon KHALIL GIBRAN.

While Tirelli's previous work with SEXTETO ELECTRONICO MODERNO was characterized by jazz and classical influences, as well as more traditional Latin inflections of bossanova and salsa, "El Profeta" is a highly symphonic concept album that is heavily akin to the most poignant Italian symphonic music (PFM, LE ORME). Tirelli includes a number of spoken-word passages in Spanish, presumably in reference to Gibran's novel.

The tracks are arranged to coincide more or less sequentially with the novel, with some individual tracks even representing specific poems in the work. The instrumentation is all centered around Tirelli's piano, and to a lesser extent synthesizers, plus some fuzz guitar that gives a real spark to many passages. The original vinyl is nearly impossible to find today, but there are re-issued CD versions available in the Americas and Europe.

Tirelli enjoyed a long stint as a composer, arranger, and performer in Spain after releasing this album, and after leaving Uruguay himself.

Armando Tirelli deserves to be included in the progressive archives for his single but impressive effort at a symphonic release, and for the distinction of being one of the very few Uruguayan symphonic artists of his day.