Meet José de María’s new record “De Verdad”, a serious traditional work. Regaling us with the all the splendour of his passion for flamenco, he offers a handful of pieces expressed with the “verdad” or truth of his own personal style, his own way of pulling out harmonies he cooks up in the oven of his mind.
It was eight years ago he burst upon the scene with a recording titled
“Almendras Amargas” which was a posthumous tribute to his
maestro and friend, Manuel Pareja Obregón. It was a sensitive piece
of work with which he honoured the dynamic musical personality of the
versatile Seville maestro by the person who sang his compositions, his
rich and varied expressive forms, peppered with personal details of his
own. That’s all history now, although it will always be a classic,
as happens with all quality work.
Now, José de María comes along with this change of pace
with a bouquet of melodies, all quite different, defining the ins and
outs of artistic maturity and the need to tell his own story. This is
where “De Verdad” is coming from, the truth, and nothing but
the truth from the musician who wants to display the most intimate corners
of his concept of flamenco as if it were a physiological necessity.
He balladizes a verse to tell us the story of Rosalía de Triana
in laid-back sevillanas, and then becomes our guide for “El Silencio
de Sevilla”. To love and be loved, biding his time and travelling
distant roads, he searches for the route in “Cabaeras” and
travels another path for the “Bíblicas”. As he comes
face to face with his own feelings, he prays for forgiveness in a gesture
of existential humility to become a loving slave in “Sentío”,
like one who awaits the black apocalyptic cloud of dawn.
Because it’s an integral part of his life, he couldn’t leave
behind the melodious, sensitive tones of the fandango that runs through
his veins. And drawing from such a varied palette, he uses his faculties
to produce velvet tones and sing to his friend and tell the world about
all the things only he thinks.
