Antes, Siempre—Before, Always—is a title that both elegantly and precisely sums up the latest release from Venezuelan guitarist, composer and arranger Orlando Molina. Celebrating tradition with contemporary ideas and emotional sensitivity, the album comes off the back of Molina’s critically lauded 2025 first album Autorretrato En Tres Colores, for which he deservedly scooped the inaugural Best Irish Jazz Release Award from the Dublin Jazz Co-Op. Antes, Siempre sees Molina move away from the contemporary compositions of his debut to revisit, reimagine and ultimately honour a repertoire of Latin American music.
The collection of seven favoured songs is arranged for the intimate duo setting of voice and nylon-string guitar. For this, Molina collaborates with 3 separate vocalists: Alicia García, Gustavo Ecclesia and Edi Nunes from Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Each vocalist brings their own unique voice, interpretation and cultural context to the recordings. The pieces themselves come from venerated Latin American composers José Alfredo Jiménez, Ivan Lins, Paulinho da Viola, Henry Martínez, Armando Molero, José Sifontes and Quirino Mendoza y Cortés.
The arrangements on Antes, Siempre are meticulous and sensitively crafted with Molina providing fresh, intricate harmonic and rhythmic landscapes for the repertoire. The nylon-string guitar backing moves fluidly between rhythmic support, textural ideas, counterpoint, melodic interplay and improvised passages, all with the emotional delivery and awareness that the compositions demand. Although the masterful accompaniment belies the minimalist orchestration, nothing feels heavy or crowded. The songs here are not simply vehicles to exhibit virtuosity or deft arrangement techniques, although we get them in spades, but rather the inverse; every small detail serves to enhance and showcase the core compositions.
García provides lyrical, heartfelt vocals on the opening Cielito Lindo. In Que Te Vaya Bonito she presents a mournful and soaring interpretation. It’s dynamic and satisfyingly engaged with Molina's backing. There is also an enticing interplay between the two in the rhapsodic Anhelante, which moves between an open, airy ballad and more rhythmic, danceable territory.
On Dança da Solidão, Nunes contributes a relaxed, samba vibe. Her performance on the ever-popular Madalena is energetic and uplifting. The vocals in both instances are soft yet dynamic, full of Brazilian flair. Gustavo Ecclesia’s confessional portrayal of Henry Martinez’s Venme a Buscar is noteworthy, as well as on the impassioned Tu Boca, where Molina's genial accompaniment is both light and energetic.
In conjunction with his first release, Molina establishes himself here as an artist in service of the music. With a refreshing lack of grandstanding - despite first-rate playing, arranging and composing - his music seems to place things just where they needed to be. All in all, this is an impressive second outing, highlighting versatility as an arranger and instrumentalist. Antes, Siempre is not just a fresh take on some classic tunes; it is a celebration of its subject matter: Latin American culture and song.
