Kike Jambalaya - Hard Times (2016)

Kike Jambalaya is one of the most outstanding, possibly the most significant rock’n’roll artist in Spain. And surely many rock’n’roll fans, especially in Madrid, would have no doubts about this statement. But those who have been following Enrique throughout his career are aware that he has many facets. From his early work from the second half of the 80’s, this singer and multi-instrumentalist has touched on many different genres. To put it another way, he has worn many hats. And what is more important, he looks good in all of them. This is perhaps because a diversification of styles seems to be natural, almost inevitable for Kike. His aesthetic vision is wide-ranging and invariably uninfluenced by the constant changes and passing fashions of an ever more complex pop scene. Kike feels the music he plays. He believes in his songs. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t even bother to hum along to them, and he certainly wouldn’t play them live or record them.
His new work, “Hard Times" – obviously not a title chosen by chance – eloquently reaffirms one of the most spiritual aspects of Enrique´s artistic range. Using exciting recreations, not mere versions, he gives us his personal manifesto for how to get through life and, in passing, he sings to us about the never-ending human condition. An opportune journey through hard times – have there been times that weren’t hard? – with timeless songs that are filled with profound messages of pain and desolation, and, at least in a couple of them, a glimmer of hope.

It is a long musical journey. From ”Hard Times", written by Stephen Foster in 1854, revisiting on the way Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger’s Almanac Singers, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, John Lee Hooker, Tom Waits and even The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.
He also touches on the deep and ominous blues of Robert Johnson; the traditional work-song of the "activist and then artist" Harry Belafonte, as he defined himself; and the most emblematic song of the depression, "Brother, can you spare a dime?", complete with its Bing Crosby finale.
I think “Hard Times" should be listened to carefully, but, above all, it should be felt because it is a sincere emotional experience that will leave no one indifferent. It is moving in its anger, its tenderness and in its implicit and explicit contradictions. To paraphrase Kristofferson in one of the songs from the album, "...ain’t it just like a human?..."

As I said at the beginning of these notes, Kike Jambalaya is an excellent rock’n’roll singer and musician. Fortunately for all of us, he is much more than that. “Hard Times " is no more and no less than the evidence of this. We look forward to more in the future. Danny Faux. Madrid, March 2016.