Rocío Marquez – Claridad
Rocío Marquez – Claridad (Universal Music Spain, 2014)
Singer-songwriter Rocío Márquez is one of the rising stars in the world of flamenco. She is gifted with one of the best voices in the current flamenco scene. Her captivating style combines retro cool, modern elegance and an impressive passionate vocal delivery. Her album Claridad contains a wonderful mix of traditional songs along with new compositions by Rocío.
The flamenco subgenres and Andalusian folk styles featured on Claridad include jotilla de aroche from Huelva, fandangos, flamenco tangos, bulerías, romance, seguirilla, tanguillos, guajiras, habaneras, abandolaos, tarantas and nana (lullaby).
Her regular accompanist is guitar maestro Alfredo Lagos from Jerez de la Frontera, who provides most of the musical arrangements on the album. The instrumentation combines traditional flamenco with old time Andalusian song and jazz.
The lineup on Claridad includes Rocío Marquez on lead and backing vocals; Alfredo Lagos on guitar; Guillermo Guillén on guitar; Carlos Peña on bass; Jorge Pardo on flute and saxophone; Rosa Torres-Pardo on piano; Jorge Tejerina on percussion, palmas (handclap percussion) and backing vocals; Juan Carlos Aracil on palmas; and José Luis Garrido on backing vocals.
Rocío Márquez Limon was born in Huelva in 1985. She started singing at a young age, studied flamenco at the Peña Flamenca de Huelva (Huelva Flamenco Club) and became a performer at a young age. Simultaneously, Rocio studied piano at the conservatory.
She appeared on various TV shows and at 15 she relocated to Sevilla. In 2005 she was awarded a scholarship to study at Fundación Cristina Heeren where she learned from masters José de la Tomasa and Paco Taranto. Rocío Márquez has a degree in Music Education from Universidad de Sevilla.
In 2007 Rocio won the first prizes at various small flamenco festivals in Alhaurín de la Torre, Calasparra, Marchena, Mijas and Jumilla. However, she got national exposure in 2008 when she won the highly coveted national award Lámpara Minera at the Festival del Cante de las Minas de la Unión.
Her latest album is titled Niño, an album dedicated the highly popular Pepe Marchena (also known as Niño de Marchena), an artist that was beloved by music fans and fellow artists and vilified by flamenco purists.
Rocío Márquez is currently a music professor at Fundación Cristina Heeren and conducts flamenco music conferences.
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.
Very annoying singing style IMO. What’s going on in Spain?…did they run out of flamenco singers?
Annoying singing style? Spanish flamenco press doesn’t agree with you.
run out of cantaores? Please, update your mind… Antonio Poveda, Rocío Márquez, David Lagos, Guillermo Cano, Argentina, Ricardo Fernández del Moral, Gema Jiménez, Arcángel… And they all have different singing styles…