Aloysius

10 Flamenco guitar albums you have to hear - part 1

I interrupt your regular broadcast of flamenco palos for the definitive list of flamenco guitar albums you must hear. I’ve made this list one album per guitarist. Please note that this is the definitive list and any other similar lists you may see are wrong.

1. Paco de Lucia - Siroco



A number of Paco’s albums could be here if I hadn’t set myself a one album per guitarist limit. He led a flamenco guitar revolution through the 70s and 80s and was simply way ahead - each album through that period would change what other guitarists had believed possible. The late 80s saw a number of great up and coming guitarists and from then the focus would no longer be just Paco - in particular Tomatito’s debut came out in ’87 and Vicente Amigo’s in ’91. Both Tomatito and Vicente Amigo would be claimed as the heir to Paco’s throne by various commentators, in reality there was an explosion of great flamenco guitarists through the 90s, standing on the shoulders of the work Paco had done (and indeed Ramón Montoya before him).

Siroco is I believe the best album of Paco’s modern period (for traditional Paco check out La fabulosa guitarra de Paco de Lucia).



2. Vicente Amigo - De mi Corazón al Aire



Vicente’s debut landed like a grenade in 1991. This was a different type of flamenco - more sparse, intensely melodic and emotional, more personal but still packs a punch when it needs to. Others had attained this level of virtuosity but Vicente combined it with an incredible aptitude for composition.

Ridiculously this album is out of circulation and hard to get. Also worth checking out is Ciudad de las Ideas - after that if you’re hooked and want more, all his albums except for Roma are top notch.



3. José Manuel León - Sirimusa



By far the most avant-garde album of this list, León pushes the forms to the limits. I mean just check out this bulería:



4. Agustín Carbonell “Bola” - S/T



The most underrated of the list by far. The other 9 are well known to any flamenco guitar fan, but somehow this one slips through the radar, even though it is without a doubt one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Bola went on to do other good stuff, disappeared to Brazil for a decade (a long story) and came back to Spain recently. Check out this soleá, one the most achingly beautiful ever recorded:



5. Gerardo Nuñez - Jucal



Gerardo’s style is pretty unique - he’s from Jerez so has that ‘roots’ feel of the Jerez style, but he combines it with the modern playing of Madrid’s ‘caño roto’ style. Technically he is a monster, with the most advanced right hand thumb of any guitarist. Check out this bulería in D# phrygian. Even though D# phrygian would become a very common key for bulería, tangos and other palos, in 1994 when this came out guitarists were just starting to explore it.

Frownland

I'll be getting through all of the albums on this list (only heard the Paco de Lucia one) but I started off with this one because of the description and it's brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

Yes. Extremely cool stuff.

OP: What's your thoughts on both Strunz and Farah (who I got to see here in San Diego about 15 years ago) and the more recent Rodrigo y Gabriela?

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Aloysius

An awesome album for sure. Glad to return the favour, I've listened to lots of your recs.

To be honest I'm not a fan of that sort of thing. The music they play is rumba, a Cuban form that can be pretty cool in it's original form, but this is highly commercialised (there is also Ottmar Liebert, Jesse Cook and countless others). Asking a flamenco fan what they think of this is a bit like asking a death metal fan what they think of Nickleback, or an avant-garde jazz fan what they think of Kenny G. That first video you posted had a cool intro, but once the rumba rhythm kicks in it sounds cheesy to me - just my personal taste.

Aloysius

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.

Chula Vista

Appreciate the candor. I don't come from a flamenco background so I'm a prime target for this watered down version of the genre. I will say that at the Strunz and Farah show, which was outside and right along the bay on a beautiful San Diego night, I've never seen so many beautiful women dancing uninhibitedly (and beautifully) over the course of a concert.

That rhythm and beat is a drug and I've been addicted to it for decades.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Aloysius

I don't think anyone could argue that's a bad thing.

To be fair I've heard some rumbas that I've liked - the aforementioned trio of Paco, John and Al used rumba a fair bit as it was a convenient common ground that they could all jam to, and because of all the different stuff they each brought to the table the results were at times magical. Also I really dig this rumba, Tomatito with George Benson:

Aloysius

Flamenco guitar albums you have to hear - honourable mentions

Really these albums are as good as the ten already listed, they only just got edged out. Again I’m limiting things to one album per artist, and I’m not including any artists already listed in the top 10.

Antonio Rey - Colores de Fuego



Possibly the most important up and coming player today, with an unbelievable technique and amazing compositions.



Pepe Habichuela - A Mandeli



An outstanding album from undoubtably the most important player of the Granada school, Pepe Habichuela.



Jeronimo Maya (self titled)



Jeronimo was a child prodigy and performed for Spanish TV several times through his childhood - some of the clips look like he is about 8 and already a virtuoso. He is one of Madrid’s Caño Roto scene (Caño Roto is a barrio of Madrid where lots of guitarists live, thus it has become synonymous with the style of flamenco played there). His self titled is debut amazing and unfortunately hard to get hold of. His more recent ‘Como Soy’ is also really good.

There’s nothing on youtube from this album, but here’s a recent clip of him tearing up the fretboard:



Parrilla de Jerez - Guitarra Flamenca



A great example of pure traditional Jerez playing. He recorded 4 solo albums, 2 vinyl and 2 on CD, all of them very hard to get in their original formats (it’s taken me years of active searching to find them all). His playing can also be heard on many albums of singer ‘La Paquera’.



Manuel Parrilla - Pa Mi Gente



Nephew of Parrilla de Jerez, his playing is a more modern take on his uncle’s style, with an influence from Madrid’s Caño Roto school.
All the tracks from the album are on youtube, but here I’ve posted a clip of him absolutely destroying it live:



Manuel Valencia - Entre Mis Manos



A recent recording from a young Jerez player, nephew of the legendary singer ‘Terremoto’. The Jerez school is in safe hands with dudes like this around.

Again I’ve decided to post a live clip because he absolutely kills it here: