Palo Nuevo to release '24 quilates',
the latest Agujetas' record

Recordings from Bernarda de Utrera, Enrique Sordera, Luis el Zambo, Gaspar de Utrera and Inés Bacán are also all being prepared for forthcoming release by the label

Silvia Calado Olivo

It is a busy schedule for Palo Nuevo at the moment. The flamenco label of Gran Vía Musical's MUXXIC division is planning to release the new Agujetas album entitled '24 quilates' ('24 Carat') at 19th March 2002. Accompanied by Enrique de Melchor, the singer has gone back to the essentials of cante grande in a traditional no-frills recording. The label is also involved in a number of other projects. It is in the process of finishing off the mixing for the forthcoming Enrique Sordera album, recording in the studio with Luis el Zambo and guitarist Moraíto, as well as the mixing for the Gaspar de Utrera album. The next artist who will be going into the studio with the label is Bernarda de Utrera, while Inés Bacán and José Valencia are at the pre-production stage.

El Agujetas, '24 quilates'

After a break of nearly three years, Manuel de los Santos Agujetas is back in the recording studio. The singer from Rota near Cadiz has laid down the album '24 quilates' with Gran Vía Musical's flamenco label Palo Nuevo. His latest recording, which will be released 19th March 2002, contains, as the title suggests, flamenco in its purest form.

In 'Agujetas, cantaor' (Auvidis, 1999) the singer was accompanied by Moraíto and in 'En la soleá' (Alía, 1998) by Curro de Jerez, but in his latest work he is joined by Enrique de Melchor on guitar. With De Melchor for accompaniment, Agujetas has come up with a sober, brooding album that does not stray from the essentials of the cante grande: la soleá, la seguiriya, la toná... An occasional palma or the singer's own voice are the only added extras.

The Agujetas album will be followed by one from Jerez-born singer Enrique Soto Sordera which has already gone through the mixing stage. Luis el Zambo, accompanied on guitar by Moraíto, is also now in the studio. This will be the solo debut of the singer from Jerez, who worked so brilliantly with Tomatito on 'Paseo de los castaños' and with Miguel Poveda on 'Zaguán'. The label is also mixing the forthcoming album from Gaspar de Utrera, the singer of the Perrate saga, who will be joined by guitarists Pedro María and Antonio Moya.

Bernarda de Utrera. XI Bienal de Sevilla
(Photo: Anahí Carmody)

Palo Nuevo will soon start recording with the singer Bernarda de Utrera, who alongside her sister Fernanda, is one of the leading members of the legendary Pinini family. If you ignore compilations, the singer, who is in her 70s, has not released any new work since she recorded 'Ahora' (Luna Discos, 1999).

As if that wasn't enough, the label is also at the pre-production stage of two other new albums. First there is one from the singer Inés Bacán, who like the Pinini family hails from Utera near Seville -her previous solo works 'Soledad Sonora' and 'De viva voz' were produced by the French company Auvidis in 1998 and1995- and then there is the latest offer from José Valencia.

The host of new projects will serve to bolster Gran Vía's impressive flamenco catalogue which is released through the Palo Nuevo label. The label already includes in its collection top class recordings like Chocolate's 'Mis 70 años con el cante' -the winner of the Flamenco Hoy record of the year- as well as 'Azúcar Candé' by Chano Lobato, José Menese's 'A Francisco' and 'Sabiduría y duende' by El Yunque.