Traditional Puerto Rican music with ten-stringed guitars (cuatros) forming the melody backbone.
A “jíbaro ensemble” is composed of 2 cuatros, a six-stringed guitar, a güiro (a gourd rasp) and bongos and puts out the type of music you hear on this album. Quite follkloric and melancholy, Jíbaro bring us tracks ranging from patriotic to unrequited love to childhood remembrances. To get an idea of where the soul of this music comes from, “Borinquen” is the name given to the mountain chain on the island of Puerto Rico where creoles with farms and small towns live(d).
Having both male and female vocals brings the album along well and adds the variety needed to save from redundancy. So, here you have some music to grove to or feel like you've gained some more “culture”--nice.

the good: excellent production and mastering; put this on and relax or dance...it's up to you
the bad: nuthin' here
the ugly: nuthin'
potty-mouth tracks: none detected

(note: rating numbers are out of 10 and following each track description)
1.A mi dulce amada: love song; acoustic guitar w/ percussion (7) 2.La herencia de mi papá: dancier beat; bass line is evident (6) 3.Jíbaro hasta el hueso: faster, more merengue style; proud of being a jibaro (7) 4.Somos los puertorriqueños: patriotic piece of the album; closer to salsa; female vocals (8) 5.Dulce sueño mío: slower; talks about unrequited love (7) 6.Margarito: instrumental; intro sounds greek; speeds up after intro (8) 7.Y amo la libertad: female vocals; faster, cumbia style (9) 8.La loma del Tamarindo: slower, salsa beat; reminisces about dad and youth (8) 9.En mi estrofa decimal: faster; very folkloric; talks about Puerto Rico and all its beauty (9) 10.Trova con sabor: groovy, danceable; female vocals (9) 11.Mi plena felicidad: slow intro and then breaks into the beat that's “muy bailable”; awesome solos; my fave of the album (10) 12.Marumba a Guadiana: instrumental; fast beats w/ predominant percussion (7) 13.Los gallos cantaron: female&male vocals; fast beat again; song about nativity (8) 14.En un eterno poema: Cumbia; talks about singin till he dies (8) 15.María Leticia: instrumental track (7) 16.Diálogo: female/male vocals; really fast (8)

review courtesy of rE\dOx