The guitarist recovers collaborations with Paco de Lucía, José Mercé and Manzanita

S.C. Madrid, May 2005

Enrique de Melchor goes back over his record career at the same time as he displays his new creations. The Sevillian guitarist compiles the most significant tracks in his repertoire in ‘Raíz flamenca’, from the fandangos ‘Viejos tiempos’ to the rumba ‘Jacaranda’. The collaborations with Paco de Lucía, Manzanita, Tomatito, singer-songwriter Amancio Prada and actor Paco Rabal make this compilation special. And he moreover premieres four songs: a colombiana, bulerías, alegrías and the seguiriya which gives the album its title. All of it lays stakes, in the musician's words, “on the old-time flavor and the bareness of guitar sound”.

	Enrique de Melchor (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

The album starts with the colombiana ‘Pa’ que tú bailes’, which, as Enrique de Melchor explains, turns out to be “a revision of the colombiana ‘Perla fina’ recorded in 1976”. It now includes new elements such as “Guadiana's voice, Juan Parrilla's flute, and percussions”. Also new are the alegrías ‘El Arenal’, in which his guitar shakes hands with the bass of Antonio Ramos, and the bulerías with a rondeña tone entitled ‘Plaza Ducal’. The premiering repertoire closes with the seguiriyas ‘Raíz flamenca’, in which the guitar is the only star, since “it suffices by itself; it doesn't need to be surrounded by so many instruments”.

Those stakes on “the bareness of guitar sound” become even more obvious in the eight old songs compiled. The son of Melchor de Marchena points out that “it's a selection of the most interesting tracks in the last twenty years”. He has also had the intention of recovering those with collaborations “so important, now impossible to get and with the risk of being lost in oblivion such as those of Amancio Prada, Manzanita, Paco Rabal, José Mercé, Paco de Lucía, Tomatito...”. Also taking part are musicians as important as bass player Carles Benavent and Antonio Carmona on percussion. Another peculiarity of this recovered repertoire is that “I usually play most of the songs live; they're part of my solo repertoire”.

Although he is working on drawing out the potential of his facet as a concert performer, he has not put aside accompanying cante, a field in which he has been one of the most sought-after tocaores since beginning his professional career. “I'm like a wild card, but it should be like that with all guitarists: you have to know how to play for singing and you have to know how to play solo”. He criticizes that one of the two pillars is being neglected, something he chalks up to “twenty-year-old fury”. And he judges that, “like in the story, you have to drop pebbles along the path in order to be able to find your way back”.

Enrique de Melchor with Juan Parrilla (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

magazine@flamenco-world.com