Flamenco-world.com, February 2004

Fifteen years after 'Soy Gitano', the album which took flamenco to the megahit lists in 1989, and twelve years since the death of the genius from La Isla, Camarón returns. The company Universal Music has recovered and updated the voice of the cantaor from San Fernando on a triple album with thirty-three songs that will come out in early March 2004. The definitive publishing and mastering has been carried out in the mythical Abbey Road Studios in London directed by Luis Monge, Camarón's son, and Maín Gómez-Escolar.

Just as was done with Elvis Presley and the Beatles, the company Universal has taken the original tapes by Camarón and has remixed some of the most famous numbers by the Cádiz-born cantaor. The novelties in the new triple compilation are "to include a previously unreleased flourish by Tomatito in 'La Tarara', recover the arrangements by Joan Albert Amargos which were lost in the original mixes of 'La Leyenda del Tiempo', include the second voices by José Monge eliminated in previous editions and listen to the Royal Philharmonic again with all its energy", as reads a press release by the company. At the same time, after thirty-three years, the original version of the bulería 'Samara' has been recovered and restored, which had been released incomplete since being published on vinyl in 1971, "and nobody without the LP from that year has been able to listen to it just as Paco de Lucía and Camarón intended it".

The result will come out in a triple CD format with thirty-three titles "and many surprises: instruments which weren't heard before are now in their natural plane, the voice of the genius updated in color and sharpness, an intense job but full of love and respect for he who is the greatest flamenco cantaor of all time". Thus, beginning on March 8th, great songs by the artist will be able to be listened to with new luster such as 'Canastera', 'Rosa María', 'Volando voy', 'Yo vivo enamorao', 'Calle Real', 'Te lo dice Camarón'... and of course, 'Soy gitano'.

Camarón with Paco de Lucía and Tomatito at the studio
(Frame from DVD 'Francisco Sánchez-Paco de Lucía')

Posthumous career

Camarón de la Isla never stops being current. Following the tenth anniversary of his death in 2002, biographies have been published such as 'Camarón, biografía de un mito' ('Camarón, Biography of a Myth'); the DVD 'Camarón. Paris 87/88' has been released; the collector's box set 'Integral', with nineteen records; and recently, the SGAE (Spanish Authors' Society) has come out with the book 'Camarón vida y obra' ('The Life and Work of Camarón'), a study of his career and a detailed analysis of all his discography, made by José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino Núñez. The latest landmark in this posthumous career is the album 'Cositas buenas' by Paco de Lucía, where the guitarist from Algeciras and Tomatito play for a previously unreleased Camarón singing through bulerías.

magazine@flamenco-world.com