![albumreview_ventanas.jpg.jpe albumreview_ventanas.jpg.jpe](https://shepherdexpress.com/downloads/27220/download/albumreview_ventanas.jpg.jpe?cb=64c3ca535d9f20df798a66bad0a14a99&w={width}&h={height})
The most obvious influences on Ventanas’ second album, Arrelumbre, are the wailing vocals and foot-stomping rhythms of flamenco. But Ventanas digresses without missing a beat into the more melancholy sounds of flamenco’s neighbor in geography and history, Sephardic Jewish music. This in turn opens the door to a continuum of music stretching from Spain through the Balkans and into the Near East. Passionate yet staccato, vocalist Tamar Ilana is the center of gravity for this all-acoustic ensemble. Oud and bouzouki keep pace with flamenco guitar.