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Special Features: Flamenco
on vinyl. '60s and '70s EPs (2)
Antonio Núñez "El Chocolate"
S.C.O., June 2003
Translation: Joseph Kopec
With an Alain Delon or Jean-Paul Belmondo look, Nouvelle Vague style, Antonio
Núñez, El Chocolate appears, nearly always amidst vegetation,
on the covers of the EPs he recorded with Belter, Columbia and EMI Odeon between
the late '60s and early '70s. The half dozen vinyl records here selected are a
sample of Chocolate's prolific production in those years, with fandangos as his
mark. The esthetics of the covers mixes the elegance of the cantaor, always clad
in a suit with jacket and tie in the latest fashion, a design with a certain kitsch
look and a curious wild touch in the flowery settings where the photos are taken.
In some he is posing - noteworthy is the one in which he is lighting a cigarette
-, in others he is singing - note the one in which in the middle distance there
is a couple dancing, she in a flamenco costume with a miniskirt - and all of them
play on the physical appeal of the cantaor then in his thirties. The pictures
are usually signed in dedication to authors such as Minoch, J. Mª Miró
and Simón López.
The back covers offer, on occasion, pieces of information beyond the styles
sung, the guitarist and the supposed author. On the EP recorded by Columbia in
1966, whose cover is a portrait of the artist dressed up in a white frilled shirt
and black jacket, a juicy biographical text about the cantaor appears which recounts,
for example, that he has worked with Carmen
Amaya and that he follows the school of Tomás Pavón, with anthological
phrases such as the one saying that in his youth "completely devoted to his
other hobby - soccer - he did not pay due attention to what would later become
his livelihood".
Accompanied on the guitar by Niño
Ricardo on those of Columbia; by Manolo de Brenes, Antonio de Sanlúcar
and Antonio Delgado on those of Belter; and by Eduardo de la Malena on that of
EMI, Chocolate performs cantes such as soleares, seguiriyas, martinetes, tientos
and especially fandangos. EMI's EP is dedicated to this style, taking the title
"Antonio Núñez El Chocolate y sus fandangos", fandangos
dedicated to J. Carrasco Domínguez and A. Núñez named with
a beginning verse of the poem: "Que recobrara el talento" ("May
she recover the talent"), "Arrancarme el corazón" ("To
rip out my heart")... On other occasions, the authorship of the cantes goes
to Eduardo Carrasco or to anonymity. Noteworthy is the repertoire of the Belter
album which contains a jota por bulerías and a javera. As a complement
to most of the covers, other titles by the company are usually available, in this
case, by artists such as Beni de Cádiz, Juanita Reina, La Terremoto de
Málaga... One of them, stamped in the department store El Corte Inglés,
gives a clue of the original price: 115 pesetas (0.69 euros).
* Records provided by Bolo from his private collection.
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magazine@flamenco-world.com
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