MEDINA AZAHARA [AKA: PASEANDO POR LA MEZQUITA]

This popular Spanish band from Cordoba was founded in the late Seventies. In 1979 Medina Azahara released their debut-album Paseando Por La Mezquita (aka Medina Azahara). This album earned a double-platinum status and since 1983 when Spanish legend Triana called it a day (because of the tragical death of their keyboardplayer/singer Jesus De La Rosa) the Spanish fans consider Medina Azahara as the successors of Triana, the masters of the Prog Andaluz movement.

On their debut album Medina Azahara delivers a very pleasant blend of melodic rock (mid-tempo songs like En La Manana and Se), neo prog in the vein of Marillion (lots of Mark Kelly-like synthesizer flights) and Prog Andaluz (mainly ballads and slow rhythms) with strong hints from Triana like in the exciting titletrack (a flamenco rhythm with heavy guitar riffs, howling guitar and emotional vocals) and En La Manana and Busco (parts with flamenco guitar). A very strong point on this album is the guitarwork, from sensitive and howling to electric rhythm guitar that creates a flamenco atmosphere, this matches perfectly with the emotional Spanish vocals that contain a wailing undertone you can often hear in flamenco singing.

Medina Azahara still makes music (in 2003 they released their latest studio album entitled Aixa and in 2007 a tribute to Triana entitled Se Abre La Puerta) but during the years the sound became more polished and straighforward rock so I consider this band as a heavy version of Triana, not every album is interesting (even melodic hardrock) but they have made some very good records like En El- Hakim and En Vivo (live), especially their early work is worth to check out.