 
Fragments of a Dream
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 7
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 On: 2008-01-08
Much of this involves complex classical guitar pieces, including beautful work from classical guitarist John Williams of John Williams - The Seville Concert / John Williams, Paco Pena, Andres Segovia and Together Again/ Julian Bream & John Williams and the particiaption of Paco Pena of the aforementioned disk, who presents here his own composition La Calahorra.
Even with this strong European and Spanish influence of the highest, most classical and gentle variety, Inti Illimani never leaves the blessed earth of their birth, with the continual gentle and soothing and challenging presence of the Andean folklore instruments such as the zamponas, the quena and the charango. One song in particular presents in a beautiful soft context the pain of their Chilean nation after the Nixon-Kissinger overthrow of their democratically elected president Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 and the subsequent decades of terrorism under the brutal military dictatorship of Pinochet, which produced the massacre, murder, torture, disappearance and exile of hundreds of thousands of Chileans, including Inti Illimani itself, warned by the brutal torture, dismemberment and death of fellow musician Victor Jara by the bloody Pinochet police.
We have here therefore a plaintiff and very elaborate music of great gentility and depth, complexity and immense prodigious talent, mainly composed by band member Horacio Slainas, with the participation of the other musicians mentioned above. This is the best stepping stone into the beautiful music of Inti Illimani, and indeed to the music of all of the Andes, although we do not find here such other Inti pieaces like the famous folk piece Senora Chichera, which I used to play fiercely with a rousing Peruvian group.
Try this music and feel very much at home here, whether from EUropean classical background or Latin American. This music is brilliant and bright and healing and a good place to be, with much more to hear once more again one more time as youll miss it the first one hundred times. Leave it playing quietly all the long night long and awake informed and refreshed.
 On: 2007-01-30
This is a brilliant album - Inti-Illimani, John WIlliams, Paco Peña? Cmon! This is music that will reward patient listeners. This is deeply soulful, social protest music. Non-Spanish speakers should try to track down the lyrics and find a way of translating them, to appreciate the meaning and the sentiment.
As for the reviewer who copies and pastes the same review for all his reviews of Inti-Illimanis discs... "...the use of this review section as a political venue to praise Allende..." - I dont think one line in a review makes it a political venue, but you have just made it into one with your few paragraphs praising Pinochet.
On: 2005-12-30
It has been an enormous pleasure to listen to Inti Illimani for the past 20 years. Definitely great musicians and great recordings, to say the least. However the use of this review section as a political venue to praise Allende and call his deplorable and failed communist period in power exciting, and Pinochets years "the frightening Pinochet years" (read reviews under The Best of Inti Illimani), can only come from the twisted mind of someone who still believes in 20th Century myths: the myth of Fidel Castro, the myth of Che Guevara, the myth of the proletariat, etc. Having survived 11 years in a communist country I know better, a lot better. All of us should by now. Unfortunately we do not. Look at Venezueza and now Bolivia, with the two puppets in power dancing to the music of Fidel Castro.
Frightening years for whom? For the communists and all members of the red tribe of disciples of Fidel Castro, of course. Today, to still call Pinochet a dictator and Fidel Castro "president" is beyond comprehension. Look at Chile today. Can anyone believe it could have become what it is now without eliminating Allendes regime and crushing the communists?
I give Inti Illimani an A for their music. Let us learn to appreciate their great music without praising their disastrous and failed political views. For that, they get capital F.
On: 2005-11-13
I used to buy Intis LPs when I was 12 and I was schooling in Italy.
It still remains one of my favourite musical groups of all time.
Fragments of a Dream is, simply put, their masterwork, the one where Horacio Salinas reaches the greatest heights of inspiration in a blend I would call, at times, "modern Latin American baroque".
It starts with a piece inspired by my fatherlands folk music, Sardegna, and ends with a dismantling-cum-reconstruction of the principle of the dance worthy of any great classical composer. Brilliant
by: gmollo On: 2000-05-08
Esta reunión increible de músicos en Europa consagra a los Inti Illimani como artistas de mentalidad muy abierta, pues comparten trabajo con grandes personajes de la guitarra. Horacio Salinas despierta el punto de encuentro para exponer una hermosa obra que son lo más fiel del tÃtulo del album FRAGMENTOS DE UN SUEÑO, primera parte de un gran trabajo que continuará en Leyenda.
by: Anonymous On: 1999-05-07
Se me saltaron las lagrimas escuchando En Libertad (son ya demasiados años fuera de mi tierra). Inti-Illimani buceando en sus raices hispanas, Inti-Illimani haciendo lo que saben hacer como pocos grupos en estos dias: crear musica con raices, de esa que te inunda el corazon de tristeza, de alegria, de melancolia, de nostalgia, de deseos de vivir.
On: 1998-09-25
Even if you dont know Spanish you will become instantly addicted to the lyrical sounds of the music of Inti-Illimani. It is enchanting! And if you do understand Spanish you will be deeply moved by the lyrics. The music is even more powerful to those who have lived in or visited Chile.
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