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The young Porrina clan

The members of a recent clan of cajoneros, grandchildren of Porrinas de Badajoz and sons of Ramón el Portugués were nurtured on these teachings. They're led by the eldest of the brothers, Ramón Porrina. The first time he recorded, he figured on the credits as El Pesicola (An Andaluz version of Pepsi-Cola). He accompanied Paco de Lucía on ‘Siroco’... when he was just seventeen years old. Also known as El Turco, ha took part in other recording projects with the maestro from Algeciras such as ‘Ziryab’, and on Camarón's ‘Potro de rabia y miel’. He's provided a rhythmical backbone on stage for Joaquín Cortés, Antonio Canales, Gerardo Núñez, Tomatito, Potito, Duquende and other leading flamenco artists and dance companies. Next in line is his brother Piraña, who's enrolled in the new band Paco de Lucía founded for the album ‘Cositas buenas’. He's also played regular accompaniment to Diego el Cigala, Niño Josele and Enrique Morente, both on stage and in the studio. The youngest of the 'dynasty' is Sabú, another sure-fire bet for artists like Antonio Canales. Bandolero isn't direct family, but it's as if he was. As a percussionist he trained in the same school. They all coincided in Joaquín Cortés's early career and there formed a band that played flamenco percussion among other things: Echegaray Street Band.

Piraña (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Sabú (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Bandolero remembers that, during a tour of the U.S., Joaquín Cortés “asked Ramón Porrina and I in New York for a percussion intro. We prepared three or four minutes, it was pretty cool; since the two of us used to work together a lot, we already had stuff worked out.” The result was so popular that they started thinking about delving deeper into that area. “Shall we start a group? And from that moment on, on tours, we started to get together and to add things and people: Piraña, who was the baby of the bunch back then; El Morito, who was always with us; Joselín, who wrote songs and wanted in; with José Antonio Carmona, the same story... We started to mould it into shape between the six of us and off we went.” Vicente Amigo got them along to play on the rumba ‘Tatá’ from ‘Ciudad de las ideas’; Montse Cortés on the tangos ‘Azul’ from the album ‘Alabanza’; Ketama on a lot of “bits and pieces”; Pepe Habichuela on the album ‘Yerbagüena’... And, live, they've collaborated with many big names not only from flamenco, but also from the international rock-pop scene like Lenny Kravitz and Ricky Martin. The group's first album saw the light of day in 2003 under the title ‘Echegaray’, the name of one of Madrid's most flamenco streets, where they have their base camp - the venue Cardamomo.

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