Special feature. Sandra Carrasco, the voice to come

SPECIAL FEATURE. SANDRA CARRASCO, THE VOICE TO COME

Sandra Carrasco, the voice to come

S.C./Flamenco-world.com, July 2011
Translation: J. Kopec

Flamenco is at the big theaters, but first it has to move around and grow on smaller, anonymous stages. There’s a base circuit where the tingling of discovery is still alive, where - still with minimum technical conditions - births can be witnessed and stakes can be laid on the success to come. It happens every now and then in Madrid. Although City Hall has been persecuting the concert halls, there are still some small redoubts for live music. Do you remember when we saw La Shica at Contraclub for the first time? On an unexpected street, a discreet little club might be hosting singers, cantaores, groups and musicians who will be at the big theaters in the future. And that is where Sandra Carrasco’s voice is reaching nowadays.

Sandra Carrasco and group at Colectivo Latina
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)

The official début will be in September, when her first solo album is set to be released. It is going to be launched with endorsements in view of the general public, since Javier Limón is the disc’s producer and composer of nearly all its songs. That relationship had already been bound in projects like the musical ‘Enamorados anónimos’, the album ‘Mujeres de agua’ and some side-by-side work with Buika. But long before that, flamenco enthusiasts have been listening to this young artist who, by the way, studied music teaching. She has her cantaor roots in Huelva and in fandango. The first steps of her professional career are linked to Arcángel. And she has also sung together with veteran maestros such as Manolo Sanlúcar, El Pele and Duquende. Not long ago, she was invited by Miguel Poveda to sing in ‘Historias de viva voz’, the show which inaugurated Seville’s 2010 Bienal de Flamenco. Accompanying baile has been another of her schools, working in companies like those of Manuel Liñán and Nuevo Ballet Español. In addition, she has carried out collaborations in experimental projects like ‘220V’, an electronic music and dance show by Artomatico, Antonio Ruz, Rafael Estévez and Nani Paños premiered at Madrid en Danza 2010.

Indeed, she isn’t an invention nor is she coming out of nowhere. She has a solid foundation and has already covered a good stretch of the road, besides having a good image and charisma. And that is how it is possible for her to perform with such self-confidence the repertoire which will be duly launched after summer. The sneak preview at Colectivo La Latina, as other small events are, was a way to make contact with the public, with the songs and also with her group. The format accompanying her voice is an instrumental quartet consisting of Antonio Sánchez and Melón on guitars, Bandolero on percussions and Ariadna Rivas - an outstanding student from Berklee - on piano. They have flamenco flavor, but also the flexibility to come in and get out, since there are songs which so require and there are qualities in that highly gifted voice which allow it.

Sandra Carrasco and group at Colectivo Latina
(Foto Daniel Muñoz)

This first album will be flamenco, but not entirely. Without losing her echo and the compases, she leans towards “Limón-style” song and towards miscellaneous stylistics, with manners closer to that of any world music or jazz vocalist than those of a typical cantaora. And that might be one of the routes to take in order for cante to move forward in this century. That’s already visible in some previews on video of songs like ‘Solilla’ and ‘Arde corazón’. But that doesn’t stop her from opening her recital por tonás and closing it, of course, por fandangos… And the olés shower down upon her in this mini-courtyard jam-packed with watchers who will one day tell that they were there.