***1/2 SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

(Le Chant du Monde/Harmonia Mundi import)

These songs will sound familiar to folkies who love the Weavers, jazz fans loyal to Charlie Haden, and punksters crazy about the Ex. It is mindboggling to think that songs from the Spanish Civil War, a conflict more than a half a century old, would inspire such diverse sensibilities. Yet, here are 14 original anti-Fascist tunes remastered from old 78s, sequenced to tell of a heroic fight where right almost overcame might. Some of the performers sound classically trained, others unschooled. The lyrics are stirring, the singing is fervent, the orchestral backing is apt, and the melodies (Basque as well as Spanish classical and folk hybrids) are all memorable.

-- Norman Weinstein