Jorge Drexler is not a fan of pantheons– loosely translated as cemetery in English, the Oscar winning composer preferred I refer to him as being part of the “meadow” or “bush” of great singer song-writers. I spoke to him from his home in Madrid about the new album, Amar la Trama, his upcoming U.S tour and his Jewish roots.

Drexler a native of Uruguay, best known to American audiences for winning the Oscar for best song, “Al Otro Lado del Rio” and being snubbed by the academy for choosing Antonio Banderas to perform the award-winning song, is a gracious and understated singer-song writer. On his tenth album, Amar la Trama he continues to deliver his gift for song-writing that merges the mundane with existential musings such as, “La nieve en la bola de nieve,”- (the snow in the snowball). Drexler writes songs, melodic and harmonious with the world as he sees it to move us in profound and mysterious ways.

Amar la Trama is a stripped down version of Drexler’s previous releases such as Eco and 12 Segundos de Oscuridad which mixed traditional rhythms like the tango and milonga through electronic loops and field recordings. Keeping the sound organic and far from any professional studio environment it was recorded live in front of small studio audiences, which Drexler recruited via social networks, over four days.

At times the new record harkens back to the cabarets of Germany’s “in between war years” and the Berliner of his grandfather’s youth–the eight musicians who accompanied him sounding like a small symphonic band. In Uruguay, Jorge grew up listening to the music of Kurt Weil and the Comedian Harmonists and the Jewish music of his grandfather. This interest in the roots of Jewish music has led to his continued collaboration with mentor Ben Sidran. Sidran provides vocals and organ on the classic Mose Allison, “ I don’t worry about a thing.” On “Las Transuentes” he provides us the gorgeous Spanish guitar of Josemi Carmona and a melancholy duet with Spanish singer Leonor Watling, “El Toque de Queda.”

I like many fans am partial to swooning and too much swooning often leads to temporary memory lapses, so having forgotten he was trained as a physician, I accidentally canonized him a PhD in Literature which flattered him, but to which he responded “no, no, I am trained in medicine and view the world through the eyes of a biologist. To me the song is like a living organism- that is my approach to music.”

Whatever his approach or orientation to song-writing, Jorge Drexler has merged the heart and mind and we are all the better for it– so let the swooning begin.

Jorge Drexler performs Wed. January 26 at Mezzanine, 444 Jessie St. SF. For tickets go to www.jorgedrexler.eventbrite.com

Rosi Reyes is host of Ritmo de las Americas, KPFA in Berkeley, CA