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Martín Guijarro
Camarón
de la Isla's work is one, but the ways to
present it seem infinite. The latest is ‘Camarón
de la Isla. La leyenda (Antología)’
[‘Camarón de la Isla. The Legend
(Anthology)’], which is presented as the
“definitive” compilation of the Camarón
legacy. And, in fact, due to the versatility of
the format, the quality of the edition and the
fine-tuned musical selection, it points in that
direction. The book-record (which doubles the
standard size of a CD), in figures, contains four
CDs, seventy-seven re-mastered tracks and a forty-eight
page libretto.
The sound part is presented on four CDs with
an old-vinyl look, a detail which will delight
music lovers, sounding on which are the guitars
of Paco de Lucía, Ramón de Algeciras,
Tomatito and Raimundo Amador, among others. The
first of the four CDs has nineteen of Camarón
de la Isla's greatest hits, among them, the famous
‘Soy gitano’, ‘La primavera’,
‘Calle Real’ and ‘Yo vivo enamorao’.
The other three albums revise the cantaor from
San Fernando's career chronologically, by period:
from 1969 to 1973, from 1974 to 1979, and from
1981 to 1992. They therefore cover the entire
Cádiz-born artist's discography consisting
of the nineteen albums included in the ‘Integral’
collection, from ‘Canastera’ to ‘La
leyenda del tiempo’, with ‘Te lo dice
Camarón’ and ‘Potro de rabia
y miel’ in between.
The perfect complement to listen to the nearly
eight dozen cantes is in the libretto, especially
in the last chapter entitled ‘El arte de
Camarón. Guía de audición’
(‘Camarón's Art. Listening guide’).
Each of the four records has its respective credits
marked and is commented on, cante by cante, with
that close and at the same time expert style of
researchers José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino
Núñez. And the thing is that, generalizing,
the pages of this book-album are a synthesis of
‘Camarón.
Vida y obra’ (‘The Life
and Work of Camarón’), the great
book about the cantaor which both authors published
last year.
Click
the image to enlarge
The texts are of a three-fold biographical, artistic,
analytical nature. The first chapter, ‘Camarón,
la voz de nuestro tiempo’ (‘Camarón,
the Voice of Our Time’), has a biography
sprinkled with anecdotes and testimonies of the
mythical cantaor: “People don't understand
how I sing. People still haven't understood my
way of feeling. So I don't take them into account.
I do things my way”. The second chapter,
‘Camarón de la Isla o el cante universal’
(‘Camarón de la Isla or Universal
Cante’) sets the cantaor's career within
the social context of his time, which coincided
with “the revolution of the record industry
in Spain”. And it emphasizes the influence
his music had over a generation, making an impact
on great figures of the international music scene
such as Mick Jagger, who “wanted to know
about Camarón, and there are those who
assure that he was interested in an exchange of
underwear to see if something rubbed off on him”.
The last chapter is the aforementioned listening
guide.
In addition, these nearly fifty pages are profusely
illustrated with rarely-seen photos of recordings
and behind-the-scenes, album covers, concert tickets,
posters and other documents which bear witness
to the progress through flamenco history and Spanish
music history of the genius Camarón de
la Isla. This album-book anthology gathers all
the ingredients to become an object of fetishism
for fans and an initiation pack for neophytes
who need drawing up close to ‘the legend’
to be made easy for them.
More information:
The
web of Camarón de la Isla at Flamenco-world.com:
discography, ‘Integral’, analysis,
photos, news...
SGAE
publishes 'Camarón vida y obra', written
by José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino Núñez
Interview
with Carlos Lencero, author of 'Sobre Camarón.
La leyenda del cantaor solitario |
