Cantaor Antonio Reyes presents his début album ‘Viento Sur’ at Festival de Jerez 2009

S.C. Jerez, March 4th, 2009

Festival de Jerez isn’t just a space for live flamenco. It’s also a forum to showcase products generated by this artform. Therefore, cantaor Antonio Reyes attended Bodega San Ginés to present his début album, ‘Viento Sur’. And he did so accompanied by Moraíto, who together with Alfredo Lagos, plays guitar on this first disc by the cantaor from Chiclana.

‘Viento Sur’ is, as explained by Antonio Reyes (Chiclana 1976), “an album above all flamenco on which I go on a journey through quite a few styles like the soleá, seguiriya, malagueña, alegrías, fandangos and martinetes”. He presents them faithful to the traditional format of vocals, guitar and clapping, except for the tangos. It’s a song “done for me by Luis Carrasco and Niño Jero in which I use more instrumentation and, while still sounding flamenco, they enrich”.

Antonio Reyes and Moraíto (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

But what stands out the most on this first album is the guitar. Reyes comments that “having Moraíto and Alfredo Lagos is a real luxury”. And he emphasizes that “they’re totally different: on the one hand, Moraíto’s flamenco feeling and on the other hand, Alfredo’s musicality”. In the view of Moraíto himself, present at the press conference, “the album is a breath of fresh air within the present currents of flamenco, where there’s too much experimentation, too much sophistication, too much splicing; it’s really recorded pure, the way it used to be done in the olden days”. He added that “it defines perfectly who Antonio Reyes is, a cantaor with some tremendous anxieties, although he’s a classic”.

The musical troupe is completed with Chícharo and Bo on clapping, Juan Parrilla on flute, Diego Montoya on percussions and Patricia Valdés on baile, among others. Among the dedications included on the disc, standing out are the bulerías to Luis de la Pica, the fandangos to Manolo Caracol and the tribute to Cádiz-born writer Fernando Quiñones, since the album’s title comes from a novel of his. Even though right now Antonio Reyes is closing his agenda for the live presentations, he admits already feeling like “recording a second album and, if possible, with the freshness of the live show”.