Beginning with its name, Spanish new age musician
Jorge Grundman's record label Non Profit Music makes much of its devotion to charity, donating all of its profits to "humanitarian causes, primarily...Doctors Without Borders." Depending on one's political stance, that may make the potential consumer more or less likely to buy the company's CDs, but on a purely musical basis, its products should appeal to fans of new age music. This label sampler presents tracks from four Spanish artists --
Gnomusy (aka
David Caballero),
Joaquín Toboada,
Eduardo Laguillo, and
Grundman (who tends to perform only under his last name) himself. Of these, the most surprising are those by
Laguillo, who is granted the leadoff track, "Raghupati Raghava." As its name implies, the tune has a distinctly Indian feel, and it may have been placed first in the sequencing simply because it is so atypical of the rest of the disc that it could not have been put in between other tracks without seeming jarring.
Laguillo's "Gurudeva Hamara," which comes later on the album, also betrays an Indian influence, but it is not so pronounced. The rest of the music tends toward piano-based instrumentals backed by strings in a calm, melodic style consistent with familiar new age patterns. Surprisingly, one thing that is missing from most of the music (with the slight exception of
Gnomusy's guitar-based "Cliodhna") is much of a Spanish feel.