FLAMENCO

[skrobek]

Once again, I had great experiences of live flamenco, but I don't really know where to look as far as recordings are concerned... There are two records I cherish, both y Camaron De La Isla, one iswith Paco De Lucia (Al Verte Las Flores Lloran) el otro con Tomatito (Live in Paris) other than that, I don't have many references... recommendations, anyone ?

[mudd]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_Montoya

as i understand it there are few recordings available, but availability is pretty wide. i found a fairly beat up copy in my local used record shop for pretty much no money, and have seen other copies since.

this recommendation originated with keith rowe at some point.

m

[jon abbey]

yes, the Montoya compilation I have and Mark may be referencing is called Grandes Figures du Flamenco, Vol. 5 (Le Chant du Monde) and is indeed fantastic.



and yes, I first heard of him via Keith, maybe he will chime in here also.

[grisha]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUxjg5eH66s

[Miguel Prado]

sabicas

enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2VROY01EAg

[Miguel Prado]

some more


s. XIX
Paquirri

Patiño (1829-1902)

Paco el Barbero

Javier Molina Cundí (1868-1956)

Maestro Román

Salvador Ballesteros

Paco el de Lucena (1859-1898)

Rafael Marín

Habichuela

Miguel Borrull Castelló

Juan Gandulla

Luis Molina

José Capinetti

s. XIX/XX
Ramón Montoya (1879-1949)

Manolo de Huelva

Manuel Moreno "Moraíto"

Juanito Serrano

Perico el del Lunar (1894-1964)

Luis Maravilla

Mario Escudero

Mariano de Córdoba

Pepe Martínez

Paco Aguilera

Rafael Nogales

Carmona

[Dohol]

Singers...Singers and dancers. Focus on that.

It's all too easy to get locked into the idea that Flamenco is guitar music. It is, but the guitar has mostly been used to accompany and support the voice ( at least up until the mid twentieth century..) Flamenco without the guitar is conceivable, but without the singer..impossible.

Manolo Caracol..Pastora Pavon..Cameron de la Isla..

Go for the singers.

[Herb Levy]

If you're on DimeaDozen, a broadcast of a performance by flamenco vocalist Diego El Cigala just went up for downloading:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-deta ... ?id=284166

cross posted to What's worth grabbing on dimeadozen?

[Miguel Prado]

el Cigala is shit

[jpeatt]

Singers...Singers and dancers. Focus on that.

It's all too easy to get locked into the idea that Flamenco is guitar music. It is, but the guitar has mostly been used to accompany and support the voice ( at least up until the mid twentieth century..) Flamenco without the guitar is conceivable, but without the singer..impossible.

Manolo Caracol..Pastora Pavon..Cameron de la Isla..

Go for the singers.

Dohol seems a bit more up on the history & names here than myself, but from my own experience of Flamenco on record, this is something I can totally agree with. For me though, I tend to focus on records with dancers, as I prefer the rhythmic interplay more than the vocals. I don't avoid them, just focus on another aspect of this stuff.

[efren_del_valle]

el Cigala is shit

Seconded.

I'm not particularly fond of flamenco, but you might want to check Enrique Morente, who's a very controversial figure. He's even performed with the Sonic Youth guys. It seems he's a true innovator (or a traitor, depending on your faithfulness to traditional forms of flamenco).

[skrobek]

Wow, thanks for all the recomendations.
This should keep me busy a long time. For the moment I got

Sabicas - Recital de Guitarra Flamenca

"a 3 CD compilation that covers the historical evolution of the guitar master. It includes recordings from the early period, between 1930 and 1940, a period during which the Spanish Civil War sent Sabicas into exile, and which represented a point of inflection for both his artistic and personal trajectories."

and it's fantastic.

[mhammond]

Yes Morente is one of the most interesting singers working at the moment (his daughter Estrella also has a beautiful voice, but her work's not really so innovative). If you have Spotify access, they have practically all of the Magna Antologia del Cante Flamenco up, ten volumes all sorted by palo featuring a whole load of great cantaores.

In terms of current guitarists I would suggest Paco de Lucia, Gerardo Nunez, Rafael Riqueni, Vicente Amigo, Tomatito, Juan Habichuela, Manolo Sanlucar, Serranito, Miguel Angel Cortes, Jeronimo, Pepe Justicia, Jose Manuel Leon, ...

[franz bieberkopf]

whilst not generally thinking of myself as a dance fan (and claiming no expertise whatsoever), i've become pretty taken with flamenco as a dance/music form.

the only recommendation i can make, that hasn't been made yet, is to check out Carlos Saura's flamenco trilogy--featuring Antonio Gades, and whole bunch of other pretty famous flamenco dancers. definitely agree that the is a key to fleshing out some of the amazing rhythms in the music.

[maRi]

An interview with Pastora Pavón, perhaps better known as La Niña de los Peines, that might be of interest: http://www.flamenco-world.com/artists/n ... peines.htm

Solo recordings of Ramon Montoya might be rare, but he's accompanied La Niña de los Peines a lot, as have Niño Ricardo and Melchor de Marchena, both really great. I can recommend the Niño Ricardo collection in the Grandes Figures du Flamenco series.

"Hearing a great singer tears me up inside. I like Manolo Caracol because his singing is art. When he sings, I play things on the guitar that I've never played before."--Melchor de Marchena

Early Cante Flamenco is a very nice collection of 1930s recordings, and it's a convenient introduction to a number of vocalists that you can see listed here: http://www.arhoolie.com/titles/326.shtml

[Dohol]

Early Cante Flamenco is a very nice collection of 1930s recordings, and it's a convenient introduction to a number of vocalists that you can see listed here: http://www.arhoolie.com/titles/326.shtml

Total agreement..this is a great collection.

[mhammond]

Arcangel is a good contemporary singer, ihmers might be interested in his trilla 'Humeaban las chozas' which is accompanied by a musique concrete backing... although it's rather unsophisticated-sounding to people used to eai, etc., it's good to see people experimenting with this kind of thing. One of the most frustrating/fascinating things about a lot of current artists is their tendency to veer between horribly over-produced, glossy sounding tracks and very stripped down approaches. Also, you often get performances that are very innovative harmonically or rhythmically but with a funky bass or bunch of synthesised strings that you have to try and ignore...

[Sugartime]

Early Cante Flamenco is a very nice collection of 1930s recordings, and it's a convenient introduction to a number of vocalists that you can see listed here: http://www.arhoolie.com/titles/326.shtml

Agreed.

I also strongly suggest reading the book "In Search of Duende" by Federico Garcia Lorca. Its certainly not reference material (i.e., you won't glean any good recc.s from it), but Lorca's opinions on "flamenco" (which he uses somewhat pejoratively) and the elusive "duende", a quality that all flamenco/cante jondo/cante chicos performers strive for, are truly illuminating.

[skrobek]

Arcangel is a good contemporary singer, ihmers might be interested in his trilla 'Humeaban las chozas' which is accompanied by a musique concrete backing... although it's rather unsophisticated-sounding to people used to eai, etc., it's good to see people experimenting with this kind of thing. One of the most frustrating/fascinating things about a lot of current artists is their tendency to veer between horribly over-produced, glossy sounding tracks and very stripped down approaches. Also, you often get performances that are very innovative harmonically or rhythmically but with a funky bass or bunch of synthesised strings that you have to try and ignore...

Listened to this yesterday. I liked the production alright for a recent album, but I especially enjoyed the experiments on the 'Humeaban Las Chozas' track. It kind of rminded me of David Sylvian's Small Metal Gods track for what Ifind a perfect mix between traditional forms (flamenco/pop) and 'experimental' (eai/concrète). It seems very difficult to do...

[orangettecoleman]

I've got a few Manitas Del Plata records which I find quite enjoyable. He was pretty widely recorded in the 60s so there are quite a few records floating around of him. My understanding is that one would probably want to steer clear of Carlos Montoya though; although he is one of the most popular names in the genre, apparently his playing is not so well regarded these days...