Estrella Morente, Arcángel and Eva Yerbabuena collaborate with the Huelva-born guitarist

Flamenco-world.com, September 2004

‘Romero’. That is the name of the second solo album by Juan Carlos Romero. The Huelva-born guitarist, who made his début seven years ago with ‘Azulejo’, has surrounded himself on this record with three top-notch collaborators: cantaora Estrella Morente, cantaor Arcángel and bailaora Eva Yerbabuena. The musician pays tribute to Niño Miguel, one of his maestros. Moreover, he ventures to embellish some of his compositions with gospel voices and to play the Arab lute.

Juan Carlos Romero (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

This is the year of flamenco guitar. Following the releases by Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and Gerardo Núñez, another of the most prestigious flamenco guitarists puts a record out on the market. Juan Carlos Romero releases his second solo album, called ‘Romero’. And he is not alone on this record, which has already been branded as “subtle, elegant flamenco”. The guitarist is accompanied by Arcángel, who sings in the alegrías ‘Tran Tran’; Eva Yerbabuena, whose dancing is heard in the farruca ‘El Tiempo’; and Estrella Morente, who sings in the fandangos ‘Campana del Alosno’ and the sevillanas ‘Un puñado de sal’. Precisely in this last song, the musician experiments with gospel voices, as well as in the rumba ‘Isla Canela’.

The guitarist also flirts with Arab music, bringing in the lute in the sevillanas. Also standing out from this album's repertoire are the tientos tangos ‘La Sombra’, dedicated to guitar maestro Niño Miguel. Although he stays alone with his instrument in the taranta ‘Río Tinto’, there is accompaniment throughout the rest of the record: percussions by Antonio Coronel and Paco González; clapping by Jerez-born Chícharo and El Bo in the bulería ‘El Mostrador’; bass by Manolo Nieto in the rumba; and choruses by Olivia Molina, Carmen Molina and Naique in the alegrías.

‘Romero’, however, is not Juan Carlos Romero's only record this year. Just a few months ago, ‘La calle perdía’ was released by Arcángel, an album of which he is the producer, composer, arrangement writer, and of course, guitarist. And it is not the first time that he has performed these tasks. His is the flamenco music in the show ‘Rinconete y Cortadillo’ by Javier Latorre and in ‘La Melancolía’ by Carmen Linares. Among his upcoming projects is the making of an album with cantaor Miguel Poveda, as the Catalan cantaor has commented to Flamenco-world.com.

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