Contemporary music and flamenco join forces on the album ‘De oscura llama’ by Mauricio Sotelo and Arcángel

Flamenco-world.com, December 2009
(Cover photo © Amancio Guillén)

A new record label has drawn attention in the culture pages of the Spanish press. The new Anemos collection of designer record-books originates to give a voice to contemporary Spanish music. And among its first titles, one highlights the alliance between these avant-garde sounds and those of traditional flamenco. ‘De oscura llama’ is the album which composer Mauricio Sotelo has created beginning with the cante and voice of Arcángel as a “source of inspiration” and a “constructive element”.

Arcángel (Photo Xavi Miró)

‘Soleá de la sombra’, the seguiriya ‘Rompe desde un abismo el sol’, the soleá por bulería ‘De la espiral secreta’, the granaína ‘Intermezzo I’, ‘Bulería encendida’ and ‘Toná de mediodía’ are the suggestive titles of some of the pieces making up ‘De oscura llama’. The album by composer and director Mauricio Sotelo (Madrid 1961), National Music Prize 2001, seals an avant-garde alliance between contemporary music and flamenco cante. And to be exact, the one contributed by Arcángel. From his voice, to the beat of different flamenco styles, comes the inspiration and also the “constructive element” of the composition in its entirety.

There’s no accompanying guitar here, but rather the cante plunges into the universe of sound which, conceived and directed by Sotelo, is produced by Roberto Fabbricciani on flute, Stefano Scodanibbio on contrabass, Carlos Gálvez on clarinet, and into Ensemble Residencias, formed by Trío Arbós and Neopercusión.

‘De oscura llama’ is published in a striking format designed by Valentín Iglesias, which gives the record value as an art object. Besides the quality paper, the experts’ texts translated into Spanish, English, French and German, and the photographs, the buyer can personalize its cover with a sticker kit acting as a dust cover.

Spectral flamenco

It isn’t the first time Sotelo has used flamenco as an axis. In fact, it is an element which imbues all of his work, including the collaboration of flamencos of the likes of Cañizares, Enrique Morente, Carmen Linares and Marina Heredia, among others. And it even has a label: on the European circuit of contemporary classical music, this line founded by Luigi Nono’s disciple is now becoming known as “spectral flamenco”.

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