Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía‘s last album was a tribute to the memorable music he grew up with. Canción Andaluza collects timeless songs that are now part of the Spanish songbook. In the liner notes, Paco explained how these songs and its performers were looked down upon. The derogatory term folclóricas was used widely in Spain’s cities and by the media. However, Paco and many others disagreed with this perspective and he gave these traditional singers and songwriters a well-earned tribute on this final album.
Canción Andaluza turns passionate songs into dazzling flamenco pieces with a strong melodic component. Undoubtedly, the most famous song is the opening track, ‘Maria de la O’ which most Spaniards have heard at some point in their lives.
Most of Paco’s arrangements on Canción Andaluza are modern and very basic, using the electric bass and percussion accompaniment he pioneered. There is one exception, ‘Romance de valentía’ a song where Paco brought back an old time feel, accompanied by acoustic bass and castanets.
Although some of the new versions are instrumental, ‘Te he de querer mientras viva’ features Estrella Morente, one of the young stars of flamenco and daughter of the late flamenco maestro Enrique Morente. Another vocalist included is well-known flamenco male singer (and guitarist) Parrita. Paco de Lucía was a trailblazer and innovated until the end. The third guest vocalist is salsa legend Oscar de León on the song ‘Señorita,’ where flamenco and salsa embrace each other.
In addition to guitars, Paco also used mandola, mandolin, Arabic oud, and guitarro (a small Spanish five-stringed guitar). The rest of the lineup includes Carlos Benavent on bass; Paquito González on percussion; Alain Perez on bass; Toni cuenca on acosutic bass; Lola Blanco on castanets; Piraña on cajon and congas; Yuri nogueira on bongos; and Carlos Grilo, Bo, Juan Grande and Luis Carrasco Perikin on palmas and jaleos.
Canción Andaluza is a splendid flamenco guitar album that looks back towards tradition, but at the same time brilliantly pushes musical boundaries.
This album is the winner of two 2014 Latin Grammy awards.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
