Flamenco cantaor Diego el Cigala announces the release of his new album ‘Dos lágrimas’ for September

Diego el Cigala announces the release of his new album ‘Dos lágrimas’ for September

The tour of the follow-up to ‘Lágrimas negras’ kicks off in Valencia on July 14th

Flamenco-world.com, July 2007

Diego el Cigala. ‘Dos lágrimas’ Tour. Summer 2007

There’s a date now. Diego el Cigala will release ‘Dos lágrimas’ in September. But the follow-up album to the successful project ‘Lágrimas negras’ is going to be heard live sooner. The Madrilenian cantaor kicks off his tour in Valencia on July 14th. And he’ll go on to several cities in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia. Pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, accordion player Richard Galiano, singer Reinaldo Creagh and percussionists Changuito and Tata Güines collaborate on this new repertoire representing an encounter between flamenco cante and traditional latin music.

Diego el Cigala

When he left Cata Studios in Madrid a month ago, Diego el Cigala stated: “I wanted to continue along those lines, but always knowing that I had to outdo what I’d done before. Having finished the recording, I think we’ve managed to do so”. And the challenge wasn’t easy: to be up to the level of the hit ‘Lágrimas negras’.

The new album ‘Dos lágrimas’, which will come out in September, continues along the lines of his previous encounter with traditional latin music, but this time without Bebo Valdés. The piano sounding on this new album is that of veteran octogenarian musician Guillermo Rubalcaba, another living legend of traditional Cuban music. The ‘group’ also includes French accordion player Richard Galiano, Reinaldo Creagh - singer of La Vieja Trova Santiaguera -, and renowned Cuban percussionists Changuito and Tata Güines. Also collaborating are other Cuban musicians such as trumpet player Manuel Machado and contrabass player Yelsy Heredia, Catalan pianist Jaime Calabuch Jumitus, Jerez-born guitarist Diego del Morao and Madrilenian percussionist Sabú Porrina.

The repertoire on the album, self-produced by the cantaor, includes boleros, chachachá, copla and tango. He offers new versions of songs such as the boleros ‘Dos Gardenias’ and ‘Compromiso’ by Antonio Machín, and the coplas ‘María de la O’ by Rafael de León and ‘Dos cruces’ by Antonio Molina. One of the surprises on the album is ‘Caruso’ by Lucio Dalla, a song which is turned into a mestizo Argentinean tango.

El Cigala is going to rev up his engines live. The tour of ‘Dos lágrimas’ kicks off in Valencia on July 14th. And with that first concert, he begins a tour which will take ‘Dos lágrimas’ to several cities in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia, among them, Madrid, Caracas and Bogotá. There will be two pianos on stage, those of Guillermo Rubalcaba and Jaime Calabuch, Diego del Morao on guitar, Yelsy Heredia on contrabass and Changuito, Tata Güines and Sabú on percussion.

Diego el Cigala