Martín Guijarro, August 2009

The voice of Carmen Linares always flew beyond flamenco. But on this ‘Raíces y alas’, it is even more manifest that we are before one of the great Spanish performers. And that, despite the multiple challenge she faces on this album. Above all, she has to sing the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez, the Huelva-born writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature half a century ago. The words have to be uttered with exquisite tact… while they are sung. And the truth is that she nails it: she lets the words explains themselves, and at the same time, she provides them with the extra emotion required. She gives some poems whitewashed light. Others, nostalgia. And some, existential jondo flavor.

When the styles are recognized (which doesn’t mean that they follow the model exactly), that serene, elegant, deep cantaora that she is sparkles. That’s what happens in the alegrías ‘Remembranzas’, in the bulerías ‘El desvelado’ and ‘Llanto’, in the tremendous final toná ‘Con tu voz’. But in the singer’s tessitura, she manages to take a step further. ‘Álamo blanco’ and ‘Mares y soles’ are beautiful songs in which she completely unleashes her voice’s freedom. And she ends up finding other patterns and channels unexplored in flamenco.

She is led to take that step by Juan Carlos Romero, composer of the album both in the instrumental and in the vocals. As in ‘Locura de brisa y trino’ by Manolo Sanlúcar, it is demonstrated that it is feasible and necessary to compose for cante, the genre’s stillest facet. Here, the composer puts himself at the cantaora’s service, not only designing her phrases - with the added difficulty that the meter of the verses isn’t flamenco -, but also building an entire musical framework in sensory and emotional harmony. And to do so, he turns quite a bit towards sounds and attitudes close to classical, using instruments such as the cello, oboe, bassoon and flugelhorn. But guitar is the core instrument, accompanied by percussion and clapping, plus curious details like the rociero drum in the fandangos ‘Moguer’. In short, it is a real delight to listen to.

Something also very interesting about this elegant album is the fact that Carmen Linares has taken the reins of her record endeavors. And she releases this disc with her own label: Salobre. The quality and pampering stand out with which the album is presented, in an album-book edition with a hard cover, illustrated pages with all the poems sung, texts by Félix Grande and Miguel Copón, pictures of the cantaora and a good handful of photos of Juan Ramón Jiménez, who receives a musical tribute up to the level of his rhymes.

Further information

Reviews index

Flamenco x 2. Interview with Carmen Linares and Juan Carlos Romero about ‘Raíces y alas’ (November 2008)

Digital Encounter. Carmen Linares, cantaora (December 2008)