Diego el Cigala prepares cante anthology

Niño Josele and Javier Limón back up the singer in a project that includes
the participation of Juan Valderrama and Enrique Morente

Silvia Calado Olivo

"To leave my mark as a flamenco singer" is the ambitious challenge Diego el Cigala has taken on. With the help of guitarist Niño Josele from Almería and composer Javier Limón, the Madrid singer is preparing an anthology of cante which is to include more than twenty pieces. El Cigala will take two years to carry out this work which is to be titled 'Mi antología'. With this proposed work, the singer from Spain's capital who claims to have entered into a period of maturity hopes to "revive flamenco songs that are no longer sung".

While his records 'Diego Cigala con Niño Josele en el Teatro Real' and 'Corren tiempos de alegría' are "selling like hotcakes", Diego el Cigala is working on his next recording project. The singer from Madrid has set aside a couple of years to prepare an anthology of flamenco singing with some twenty pieces, accompanied by the guitar of Niño Josele.

Diego el Cigala with Niño Josele
(Photo: Anahí Cármody)

El Cigala believes that "what's going to make my mark as a flamenco singer is an anthology, it's going to establish me permanently as a cantaor". And he confesses that feels a deep need "to settle into this thing, because I've reached a certain level of maturity in my singing and the only thing I want to do is listen to the veterans". The singer feels he has "a mission to fulfill in flamenco: to rescue those cantes which are no longer sung".

Diego el Cigala realizes that "it's very costly work, but since we have Javier Limón's studio at our disposition, we can go working everything out, step by step, in our own good time". Javier Limón who produced the singer's most recent work agrees that "in order not to do something that's just going to be another insignificant title, the anthology needs time and needs hard work". And good company... According to Limón, Diego el Cigala is managing to involve maestros of flamenco singing such as Juan Valderrama and Enrique Morente in his project.

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