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Flamenco-world.com
Top 10 of 2004. Special feature
Year of the resurgence
Martín Guijarro. December 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
After the break the recording industry took last
year, flamenco album releases are starting to pick up steam
again. 2004 has been, first and foremost, the year of the
guitar, with new material from the three leading exponents
of flamenco guitar today: Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and
Gerardo Núñez. And we've also seen new recordings
from best-selling cantaores like Niña Pastori and José
Mercé as the year drew to a close, and eagerly-awaited
albums by young classical flamenco vocalists such as Miguel
Poveda and Arcángel. The DVD has also established itself
as a flamenco format, with live guitar shows selling well,
as well as reissues of films like ‘Flamenco’ and
‘Los Tarantos’, and some new dance productions
like ‘Pasión y Ley’ by Antonio el Pipa.
The list of best-selling products shows, too, the rise in
popularity of study materials which help to gain a firmer
understanding of flamenco. Here are the Flamenco Top 10 listings
for 2004, based on Flamenco-world.com international sales
figures.
| CDs. Flamenco-world.com
Top 10 of 2004 |
Paco de Lucía
There was a general thirst for flamenco guitar. And it's
been more than quenched. The recording industry event of the
year was, without a doubt, the release of ‘Cositas buenas’
by Paco de Lucía. The maestro from Algeciras kept his
fans waiting five years, and finally rewarded them not only
with an album, but with a packed schedule of concerts. It
wasn't quite so long since Tomatito set foot in the studio
- ‘Paseo de los castaños’ was released
in 2001 - but his new album was no less eagerly awaited than
that of his much-admired former colleague Paco de Lucía.
‘Aguadulce’ is a compendium of rhythmical styles,
arranged with vocals by leading contemporary cantaores. Gerardo
Núñez released ‘Andando el tiempo’,
bringing together all those great compositions he's been playing
at his live shows both with his trio and the ‘ensemble’,
carving a path forward and forging his own personal musical
style. The top ten best-selling albums at Flamenco-world.com
also feature the young guitarist Jerónimo who, after
years demonstrating his talent on stage, finally makes his
solo recording début. And Paco Cepero also makes an
appearance in the ranking, with the album ‘Corazón
y bordón’, evidence of the faithful following
boasted by the classical school of flamenco. Even though it
didn't quite make the top ten, the new album by Juan Carlos
Romero - ‘Romero’ - deserves a mention: another
novel approach, taking flamenco guitar one step forward. Another
album that failed to make the top ten but certainly made an
impact is what might be termed the best newcomer of the year:
‘Son de la Frontera’, an album that twins the
legacy of Diego del Gastor with traditional Cuban music.
The close of the year saw two best-selling flamenco vocalists
catapulted into the lists. One was cantaora Niña Pastori,
once again treading the path of flamenco-pop on ‘No
hay quinto malo’. The other was Jerez-born cantaor José
Mercé, who gives a display of his versatility on
‘Confí de fuá’, covering everything
from the most orthodox to the most light-hearted. Two other
fresh-faced cantaores of neo-classical leanings managed to
find a place toward the top of the best-sellers list: Arcángel
with ‘La calle perdía’ - a melodic, fresh-sounding
album composed by Juan Carlos Romero - and Miguel Poveda with
the experimental suite for flamenco voice and chamber orchestra
‘Rafael Alberti. Poemas del exilio’. With Montse
Cortés's album released right at the end of the year
she didn't make the top ten yet, but it won't be long before
she does. ‘La rosa blanca’ is the second solo
album by another fundamental contemporary flamenco voice.
Gerardo Núñez /
Niña Pastori / José Mercé
An unexpected and at the same time pleasant surprise in the
top ten was the tribute to bailaora and cantaora Carmen
Amaya entitled ‘La reina del embrujo gitano’.
The double CD with previously unreleased recordings from the
U.S. comes with a DVD containing excerpts from movies in which
she featured and a biographical book. Also bubbling under
is the box set of thirteen CDs and a CD-ROM covering the entire
vocal legacy of La Niña de los Peines, now officially
declared part of Andalusian cultural heritage. Fans from all
corners of the world have taken advantage of the chance to
own a slice of the musical and audiovisual legacy of these
two flamenco legends.
Continues
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