José Luis Montón. Guitarist
Alberto García Reyes

A hushed place far removed from flamenco continues to yield flamenco artists. The sea-spray from afar is analogous to the waters of Cádiz, Málaga, to Granada, Almería... But the Despeñaperros pass lies far away, and the cradles that nurtured the cantes of tonás, seguiriyas and soleares can't be distinguished even with a spyglass. And yet, although the stork makes its nest in one bell-tower, it later emigrates to another. This what has occurred between Andalusia and Catalonia. "Sin querer", a guitar touched by the notes of Zyryab, has been able to find echoes of Ricardo, the mark of Ramón, the sound of Algeciras, the rhythm of Sanlúcar... In other words, the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), not as conceived by Gaudí, but rather by a flamenco guitar.

Montón is from Barcelona, but on this record - Auvidis, 2000 - he starts out playing in Fuentevaqueros. "The first piece I call "Homenaje" (tribute) because I wanted to evoke Lorca. That's why I begin playing por granaínas. Then I change to tangos and do 'La Tarara' closing with bulerías". He isn't searching for the Leyenda del Tiempo. With his fingers, José Luis expresses everything he feels when he listens to that Lorca-oriented record by La Argentinita which also had versions by maestros like Pastora Pavón, Pepe Marchena, or, more recently, Carmen Linares. But he's searching for more: "The guitar is a harmonic instrument and we can play around in that slippery area where the question arises whether or not it is flamenco. I don't want to look for anything in particular, but rather I let myself go and play what I feel. In that sense, all the pieces have a certain jazz sound because I've played for three years with two jazz guitarists, and it shows."

Montón even takes the liberty of recording a rap number on a record which is marketed as flamenco, because "I'm one of Tomasito's admirers and at flamenco parties he always does a rap. I liked him a lot and I finally convinced him to take part in this work".

Although on the record cover you might notice too much bulerías, the fact is, the subtleties go way beyond the compás and you can detect many influences:

"Camarón and Paco have influenced every living creature. No one is enough of a superman to be able to escape the geniuses. But I never analyze when I listen, I just want to enjoy it. That's why I'm not interested in snatching bits and pieces and modifying them, although in the end, inevitably, you can tell who I listen to".

Meanwhile, he goes back to writing with his guitar the same dark verses written in another time and place by the poet from Granada. The Zorongo Gitano dresses up as a bulería chufla and José Luis Montón, who points out "I recorded the whole record with my tongue hanging out, making no concessions", runs the polyrhythmic gamut with new compases that emerge from the depths of an accelerated soleá. "I threw as much spirit into it as possible and I think I came out with a document characterized by its daring". ... and by subliminal flamenco: the record ends with bulería - a rhythm which dresses up in the main verses of the man from Fuentevaqueros - where Miguel de la Tolea tackles a fandango of Frasquito Yerbagüena - the Granada warbler.

That's how Lorca sounds coming from six souls vibrating together on Montjuic.

Translation: Estela Zatania