About this project

Let me tell you a story, I'm not the greatest story teller but I'll do my best.

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My father, Jose Gil de Lamadrid Canales was born on June 25th 1952 in the small mountain village of Jayuya, Puerto Rico within the foothills of the Tres Picachos mountains. A mountain range held sacred to the Taino indians.

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He perished in an elevator accident just weeks after the completion of his record in 1985, consequently the group disbanded and the album was never released.

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In 1988, my mother moved us from the beautiful Caribbean island of Puerto Rico to the desert that is Texas. She never remarried and listened to Jose's music frequently; she had a scratched and slightly warped vinyl record, not all of the songs would play, but it was enough. She told me the stories behind the different songs and I would listen intently as she would describe the situations and metaphorical imagery represented in the lyrics.

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In the fall of 2009, while I was traveling in Colorado, I received an email from a woman in Barcelona, Spain. She explained to me that she was his final life partner and began telling me the story of her time with Jose, the final year of his life, from the day they met until the day he died.

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Throughout the course of 10 days, she wrote me. I still have all of the emails and it is such an amazing tale.

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There were so many gaps in my knowledge of my father and I was so happy to have finally met someone who could fill in all the details that I had no clue

about. She explained his character, his way of being, his anger and his clown-like joy. She had a copy of the record, and she had kept it very safe. Once we began talking she decided to digitize the music and send it to me, but she did not send it all at once. During the course of 10 days, she would write me a story, and with each story she would include a track.

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She told me of the rustic wooden house he had built at the top of one of the Tres Picachos mountains, and about the song he wrote about it and it's serene beauty "Casa de Madera". He had built a system to capture rain water and had a garden where his dog, Corcho, would play. My mother had told me about that place and I have some memories of it as a child. A little wooden cabin on top of the mountain. There was no electricity and he would stay up there for weeks writing songs by candlelight.

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The stories went on and on until the final chapter. On February 25th 1985, as they were leaving a friend's place the elevator doors opened, Jose turned around and waved goodbye to his friends and stepped into a chasm. The doors had malfunctioned and opened while the elevator was 3 stories below.

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After she told me the story and sent me the tracks, she informed me that she had some music that had never been heard. My mother had told me that there was a woman somewhere that had taken his practice tape when he died, this was her. She had carried the tape with her for almost 30 years, and never listened to it in fear of a tape deck eating it and it being destroyed. When she found me she decided it was worth the risk and that she would try to digitize it. It worked. The tape had 15 more amazing songs on it.

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I got back to Texas as fast as I could so that I could let my mother listen to what I had been given. I wanted her to hear the album in it's entirety once again and for her to listen to the lost tape. She was happier than I had ever seen her. On February 12 she silently passed away with the music playing in her room. I know that she would want me to finish the job and release it for the people of the world to listen. As a child, she told me many times that this was her dream and wanted me to find a way to fulfill it someday. It's time.

.What I want to do is have enough money to pay for a full release;

• itunes
• pandora 
• pay for packaging and burning of CD's
• a website
  
• I want to have all of the emails between me and Susana documented and released with the album, the entire story.
  
• my ultimate wish is to have two animated videos made, describing the metaphorical attributes of the songs with images. I want to see the band animated and playing the music while butterflies soar over a garden. I want to see the little cabin on the mountain and the fireflies waiting for us at the end of the path..
• I want to share Jose's wonderful music with you and the world.

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I'm asking for $2,000 because that is the minimal amount needed for a simple release, but to have the animated videos made it would take a lot more. Hopefully that can be achieved, if not, at least the album will finally have it's debut.

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