Elia y Elisabeth: La Onda De Elia y Elizabeth Vinyl LP Elia y Elisabeth

Long lost Colombian funk filled soft pop from the early 1970s. The duo of sisters Elia and Elizabeth Fleta had a short lived career that produced two albums that expertly combined Caribbean music and psychedelia, tropical funk and the soft side of pop music. Their family had a strong musical history; their grandfather was the Aragonese operatic tenor, Miguel Fleta, and two of their aunts were the popular Spanish duo, Hermanas Fleta. Elia and Elizabeth first came to light when they were invited to a televised homage for their famous grandfather and were heard by composer and musical arranger Juan Carlos Calderon. He invited them to record in Barcelona where they put down “Cae La Lluvia” and “Fue Una Lagrima,” two of Elia’s original compositions. The single never received much promotion as the sisters and their family was set to move back to Colombia. Back in Barranquilla they ended up working with the musical director of Codiscos, Alvaro Arango, who put them in the studio with producer Humberto Moreno and pianist Jimmy Salcedo. Salcedo’s involvement got the sisters plenty of media attention and their career took off from there. However, the consistent TV appearances took away from Elia’s studies and the sisters decided to leave the world of entertainment. La Onda De Elia y Elizabeth collects tracks from their two albums and gives us a chance to appreciate the sisters’ signular sound.

• music label: Vampi Soul 2014

reviewed by Hank Ohs 05/2015