10 Flamenco guitar albums you have to hear - part 2
6. Rafael Riqueni - Mi Tiempo
The Brian Wilson of flamenco guitar - Rafael is one of the greats, and would be much more well known except for his turbulent life which has included bouts of mental illness, drugs, living on the streets and recently some time in jail, making his recording and gigging sporadic throughout much of his life. His whole discography is worth listening to, with each album telling a distinctly different story. Unusually for a flamenco player he sometimes uses written music as a compositional tool.
7. Manolo Sanlúcar - Tauromagia
Unquestionably Manolo’s greatest work, cited by many as their favourite flamenco album. The rest of his discography is hit and miss - with orchestral experiments and some commercial releases with poorly arranged strings that haven’t aged well. As well as this album Manolo will be remembered as one of the greatest teachers of all time - a massive number of important players have been his student, including Vicente Amigo, Juan Carlos Romero, Rafael Riqueni, Niño de Pura and many more.
8. Tomatito - Guitarra Gitana
A Gypsy from Almería, Tomatito combined the complexity of Paco’s playing with the kind of groove you get from growing up in a family where pretty much everyone plays guitar.
9. Moraíto - Morao Morao
Moraíto sits so far into the groove that rather than following the groove, the groove follows him. He comes from an important Jerez gypsy flamenco dynasty where all the artists have a nickname somehow derived from the word ‘Morao’. He’s played on well over 50 albums as an accompanist but recorded only 2 solo albums - it should be noted that within those gypsy clans being a great accompanist is considered more important art than playing solo.
10. Diego del Morao - Orate
Moraíto’s son, and since his dad’s death the most sort after of the Jerez guitarists. Compared to his dad his playing is more syncopated, but still very earthy. My favourite guitarist in the world of any style.