Luis Clemente, January 2001

Camarón returns here, varied and patched together, to conquer the market and beyond. The album-restoration for this Christmas contains tracks recorded between 1967 and 1990. The highs and lows center on five tracks right in the middle, in 1979. The CD opens with "La leyenda del tiempo", with the instruments of the group Dolores that also accompany him in "Viejo mundo" and "La tarara". Key moments in the history of flamenco, appearing here with slight variations.

This leyenda was the first recording of Camarón produced by Ricardo Pachón, the man who has compiled this material. Prehistory: a meeting of cabales, a tape player at the Morón air base, and a sixteen-year old Camarón accompanying himself on the guitar. Antonio el de la Calzá presents the young singer with his dreadful commentary:

No un camaronsillo de los ríos,
sino de esos que son pes-espá

Not a little crawdad,
but a big old swordfish

He sings eight stunning moments por soleá, a big old soleá, his fresh and flexible voice stretching to great lengths, two years before his first recording session (making this the oldest published recording). There is also a fine round of fandangos, with a forgotten-but-it-doesn’t-matter verse:

Es como viajar en avión
Iberia a su disposición

It’s like flying in a plane
Iberia at your service

And the dark seguiriya of Paco la Luz that he weaves with debla and toná. "Pelaíllas de las boas". Exceptional document.

The next seven minutes were recorded seven years later: an inspired rendition of his personal bulerías, accompanied by Ramón de Algeciras, the brother of Paco de Lucía, in the village of Antonio Mairena. Camarón speaks:

Cuando los vi salí corriendo...
When I saw them, I ran out of there...

A sitar, with the guitar of Tomatito; Gualberto opens "Nana del caballo grande". This is from a rehearsal at the Umbrete sessions, different only slightly from the contents of "La leyenda del tiempo" and reaching meltdown only at moments. The guitar of Raimundo Amador is noticeable (one imagines teeth trembling por bulerías) along with Tomatito accompanying the "Homenaje a Federico" that Kiko Veneno adapted for him, por bulerías, underscored here by the dancing of the great Manolito Soler. Raimundo breaks off expectantly, Soler punctuates.

"It’s a great recording, but that whistle..." Paco de Lucía referred in this way to the Moog synthesizer at the beginning of "La leyenda del tiempo", played on this occasion not by Manolo Marinelli, but Jesús Pardo of the group Dolores (this is also the first recording of Camarón’s without Paco). In the end, brother Jorge Pardo plays the flute on the second version of "La leyenda", included in this recording, and which opens with the shorter single version. The drums of José Antonio Galicia por bulerías in "Viejo mundo" add more exotic spice, but without the guitar of Raimundo on this occasion. This recording differs slightly from the original. The taranta "de la Grabiela" is used as an intro to "La Tarara" with the group; the bambera that is stretched out here with another adapted taranta with cartagenera and a bit of percussion, plus a bridge for the sax, putting Dolores in jazz-rock motion.

Underneath the voice of José, drums and clapping have been recorded (Ricardo Pachón’s son and the ever-present Manuel Soler) to good effect under the two chilling verses por tonás from the remixed sessions of "Soy gitano". Pachón’s last recording of Camarón came a year later, and on video. These bulerías were taken from the soundtrack, recorded in Montilla, one of the villages that confirmed Camarón as a master artist.

Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre
Give me back my mother’s rosary

Eleven and a half minutes of perfect bulerías, with many versions of the unique Camarón.

This "Antología inédita", published on what would have been his 50th birthday, has been met with great acclaim (the "Llave de Oro del Cante" award, Curro Romero officially presenting the gold record, his widow La Chispa on a TV talk show!). The lawyer Maín appears in the credits (idea, artistic management, and coordination) and the designer Rafa Iglesias is frustrated (the cover was to be the project "Camarón R-Evolucionario", with beret a la Che). In the notes, Pachón quotes the ideologist (Juan el Camas: "The brain loses, but it wins") and the poet (Carlos Lencero: "At the speed of a silver bullet") in his description of the times in which the recordings were made. He concludes by describing the recording as ("a homage to the camaroneros that have grown in number since his death") a sample of the heritage that he has received. He’s given it a digital shine; a sparkling drop-by-drop sample for Christmas.

More information:

Camarón's web at Flamenco-world.com