Recommendations please: Flamenco

Thomas,

At the Montreal Audio show this year I heard a mesmerizing combination of flamenco guitar and cello on a disc called "Flamenco Passion and Soul" by a guitarist named Gino D'Auri. There is a First Impressions Music XRCD2 version of this. He also has another recording called Flamenco Mystico,which is available as a Golden String Gold CD. Both of these also come on "regular" CD - I believe the original label is called Happy Heart. You can find the audiophile versions at elusivedisc.com by searching under "flamenco".

I am far from a flamenco expert, but I did enjoy what I heard on the first disc. You can find audio clips from the normal versions at online CD stores, which should be enough to let you judge whether the playing here is anything close to your authentic experience.

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"90% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

I will ask Anna to post the whole story but we made an amazing Flamenco recording recently in Seville. Should be available in a month or so. "flamenco/havana"

For me, nobody ever played more soulful Flamenco guitar than Manitas de Plata. This is not "classical" Flamenco, like Sabicas or Montoya, but, rather, down and dirty "Gypsy" style Flamenco. Interestingly, Manitas de Plata, whose real name is Ricardo Bailardo, is uncle to some of the Gipsy Kings, and his recordings often feature the great singer, Jose Reyes, whose sons are also Gipsy Kings members. But, Manitas de Plata's recordings are nothing like the pop style Flamenco popularized by the Gipsy Kings. Try to get hold of his early stuff on Connoiseur Society. My favorites are "Manitas de Plata in Arles" and "Juerga!".

John, Peter, Paul (where's Mary?),

Thanks for the replies - hmmm, Flamenco doesn't seem to be that popular with the forum users. Perhaps that will change with the arrival of the album Paul mentioned; certainly Seville, Flamenco and Naim make for a promising combination. I had a quick listen to D'Auri and de Plata on the web - both seem a good place to start.

Thomas

Hi Thomas

FlamencoHavana is being manufactured at the moment, so will be available shortly.

The album features lots of musicians, both Flamenco and Cuban, but is the project of Ramon Ruiz and Anita La Maltesa. Ramon was born in Granada. He lived in Seville (where we recorded the album) for 5 years and was resident at Los Gallos, a tablao renowned for live flamenco music.

The album was recorded last September during the Flamenco festival that takes place every two years. If you're into Flamenco maybe you should make a space in your diary for 2002! This meant that the very best musicians in the world were available for us to record.

FlamencoHavana is a mixture of wonderful Spanish songs with great percussion - both flamenco and cuban - and an upbeat brass section, traditional Flamenco vocals by Segundo Falcon and Jose Amador with some amazing footwork by Anita and Edu Lozano. Rafael Rodriguez brings his exquisite guitar playing to the album and there's even a bit of didgeridoo!

I'll post details when it's available - you won't be disappointed!

Anna

Having attended a concert by the above-named artist on Friday, I felt I had to resurrect this thread. Nunez played at the Nuremberg Karstadt (think Marks and Sparks) cafeteria, which is, of course, somewhat bizarre, but we didn’t let that deter us. He’d brought along three younger flamenco guitarists and a caja player. They first played solo sets and then one set together. I’m not much of a concert-goer and rarely become enthusiastic about a performance, but these guys had me transfixed. To top it off, the younger guitarists, despite their obvious virtuoso skills, were very modest to the point of shyness. “To finith the conthert we play Buleria for thank you.”

If flamenco’s your bag, be sure to catch them sometime.

album featuring the young guitarists

excellent Nunez album

Herman, what's the key combination for the squiggly line thingummabob?

Thomas

Carlos Montoya

For pure, hard-core flamenco guitar, he's one of the greatest. Try Art of Flamenco for starters.

jay

quote:

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Originally posted by Thomas K:
Herman, what's the key combination for the squiggly line thingummabob?

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You mean the tilde - as in Nuño?

You first have to tell me whether there was "a leg of ham" aka jambon at your show.

OK. Allright. I'll tell you. (It's not that hard.) On my Apple you do alt-n and then plain n.

Herman

Yes, as in Nuño! Your key code didn't work, but I found a list for IBM machines: alt + 164.

No había jamon, no había Elena tampoco, it was a memorable night, though.

Jay, thanks for the recommendation -- will check it out.

Thomas

jomina,

Welcome! Great to see a mention of Manolo Sanlucar. I bought Tauromagia second hand with a bunch of other records a few years ago - knowing nothing about it. It's a great record, a real 'stayer', a very alive - but still my only flamenco record. I'll look out for the others you mention.

Thanks,

Ian

Thomas - I'm surprised that no-one has said this before, but you should really listen to "Friday Night in San Fransico" with Paco, Al Dimeola & John McLaughlin. Fab stuff, well no, even better than that. You can check out whether you like Paco or not. It is largely flamenco.
Just thinking about it makes me want to go and play it (which I usually do after a night out at 2 in the morning).