A collaboration between the Andean cultural troupe Inti-Illimani, classical guitarist John Williams, and flamenco guitarist Paco Pena spawned from a number of ad-lib performances between the various musicians in London.

Those performances were essentially Inti-Illimani performing as usual, with guest solos by the guitarists.

This album, however, was written specifically with the collaboration in mind.

As such, there is a distinct weaving of styles.

The flutes and small strings of Inti-Illimani are often backed rhythmically by some careful guitar plucking.

Conversely, there are passages of classical guitar with punctuation provided by the Andean instruments.

It's a decently soft affair either way, not necessarily making heavy use of the Andean motives, but incorporating the Andean style into the larger set of a hybridized music.

The horns sometimes act as punctuation to short runs of Andean-based sound, and sometimes play in a largely classical context.

The charangos and violins do much the same.

The core instruments from both stylistic sides only make the crossing from time to time, usually playing in a normal manner and letting the context affect the manner in which they're heard.

As such, it makes a nice twist on the usual classical guitar repertoire basically, but probably isn't really the right choice for those looking for a piece of world fusion.

Interesting, but largely bland.