Duquende – Rompecabezas

November 9, 2012 Leave a comment

Duquende is a cantaor from Barcelona who made his début at the age of eight with none other than Camarón de la Isla on guitar duties. Camarón had heard him sing and was adamant that he should reach a wider audience. He has since worked with all the leading guitarists and Paco de Lucía has invited him on innumerable occasions to take part in his shows. His recording career is not exactly prolific but everything he has done has been well received. His new album Rompecabezas, produced by Pepe de Lucía, is no exception.
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Rocío Márquez – Claridad

November 3, 2012 1 Comment


Rocío Márquez needs no introduction, we waxed lyrical about her in the Flamenco series and her album Aquí Y Ahora was one of our favourites last year. This year she released Claridad in June and it’s better than her début. An album for flamenco connoisseurs made by a true connoisseur.
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Niño Josele – El Mar de Mi Ventana

October 28, 2012 Leave a comment


Niño Josele comes from a long line of Flamenco guitarists and has played with the best of them. His accompaniment on Diego “El Cigala”‘s Teatro Real live album from 2002 is quite sublime. Like many Flamenco artists of late, he has broadened his horizons and has played in recent years with artists as diverse as Lenny Kravitz, Alicia Keys or even Elton John. He started out many years ago accompanying the great Enrique Morente but had spent some time away from the strictly Flamenco. Questions were being asked. “When are you coming back, Josele?” Well, he came back in June this year. And how!
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José Mercé – Mi Única Llave

October 28, 2012 2 Comments

Still getting my breath back after Estrella’s having broken her six year silence and José Mercé comes along with a new album.

There was me thinking that 2012 was shaping up to be something of a fallow year – how wrong can a man be? Dorantes, the Flamenco pianist, has also come up with the goods. I was too busy to share it with you but will post a review soon. But back to the matter in hand.
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Estrella Morente – Autorretrato

October 17, 2012 3 Comments


Almost two years after Enrique Morente’s untimely death and a whole six years after the last release, Estrella Morente has released her third album, Autorretrato. There is no way we can be objective about this album: we love her music and were lucky enough to get tickets to the show in Madrid where many of the tracks were showcased.
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The Flamenco Series

May 1, 2012 Leave a comment

We’re about to start a new series on Copla. Before we do, we thought it would be a good idea to round up all the Flamenco posts and put links to them all in one place. You can find them all after the break.

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Worth Waiting For!

April 20, 2012 Leave a comment

The 1993 overall winner of the Lámpara Minera (as well as in the categories of La Cartagenera, La Malagueña and La Soleá), Miguel Poveda, didn’t figure too strongly in last year’s Flamenco series. Not so much an oversight on our part as a (subjective) feeling that whilst being a truly talented artist, his more recent work had lacked a certain bite and edge that we had come to expect from him. We’d also heard rumours that something special was on its way and decided it would be better to wait. We wanted to talk about him in all his glory, not offer some random clips of performances that we were only half enthusiastic about. Well, that “something special” has arrived: his new album, arteSano (a play on words between “artisan” and “healthy or straightforward art”) is a profound and at times highly entertaining trip through some of the key palos of pure, traditional Flamenco.
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A Guitar Play List

March 2, 2012 Leave a comment


A short play list. Some fine Flamenco guitar you might want to listen to over the weekend. Sabicas, Tomatito, Serranito, Manolo Sanlúcar, Pepe Habichuela, Juan Habichuela and Paco de Lucía. Hope you enjoy it!

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An upbeat play list for the weekend

February 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Apropos of absolutely nothing. A happy play list. All flamenco (or almost) and all songs that are happy, upbeat and just fun. Enjoy. You might even try having a dance. Mrs Maki says it isn’t that hard!

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Enrique de Melchor RIP

January 4, 2012 2 Comments

The Flamenco guitarist Enrique de Melchor died yesterday at the age of 61. He was one of the best of his generation, as highly regarded as both Paco de Lucía and Manolo Sanlúcar. Born Enrique Jiménez Ramírez in Marchena, Seville, he was the son of the guitarist Melchor de Marchena from whom he took his stage name. A brilliant accompanist, he played with the likes of José Mercé, El Lebrijano, José Menese and Carmen Linares amongst others. He “understood the secrets of el cante” better than any other of his generation according to those who were lucky enough to sing with him.

Here are a couple of performances, by way of tribute:
First off a “Soleá“:

And here’s a “Rondeña“:

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