Summer isn't just holiday time. Plenty of flamenco musicians spend these hot, laidback months preparing their upcoming recordings.
José Luis Figuereo, “El Barrio” already has his material
set to go for early September in Tarifa where he is scheduled to record
his latest record after “Me Voy al Mundo”. According to Selu, there's
going to be more Andalusian Rock in this record in this year which marks
20 years since the leader of Triana, Jesus de la Rosa “El Grande”, lost
his life in a traffic accident.
Paco
Ortega is also putting the final touches on what is going to be his newest
work, a fresh, commercial product with some unusual arrangements geared
to bring his message to a young audience. “Desaparecido” de
Manu Chao brings back memories.
Another
veteran, none other than Diego Carrasco from Jerez is about to record
his new work on the Nuevos Medios label. We've already been able to hear
much of the record and there's no shortage of that familiar sound, the
good compás of Jerez and a bulerías version of the well-known
pop song “Asereje” by the Ketchup.
We also have the tip that Cádiz singer Carmen de la Jara's new
work is about to be released, and on the same label, la Voz del Sur, one
of the great young flamenco talents, 17-year-old India Martínez
from Almería is set to record the end of August after already having
won over the best flamenco peñas of Cádiz and Andalusia
in general. Her debut album is going to be modern, elegant and high-quality.
There are a few surprises from Terremoto junior for her, and the Cádiz
group Levantito will also be pitching in.
There are also some “masters” floating around that we hope
will soon find a record company willing to back them up. We have it from
a good source that some of these are already in the works. One of them
is Antonio de los Reyes, from the José Mercé chorus who
is also one of the voices of the group Cherokee, and another is the new
rumba hopeful Manuel Malou with “Bumbarruma”, a flamenco rock
piece which shows Arabic and rumba influences.
As I'm writing these lines, the cell phone is ringing and it's Gonzalo
Gracia Pelayo, producer of TRIANA. He says that the interesting José
Lara is about to begin recording a new record in Jerez and as a surprise
he's also preparing to launch a new group which will include the guitar
of Luis Monge, the kid of that guy from La Isla, Camarón. And with
that icing on the cake we'll wrap it up for now.
