Customer Reviews

Story Of Flamenco, The

5 star:		(2)
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Where to go after Gypsy King? Well you've come to the right place. This has got to be the best single-cd "introduction to <world music X>" that I've ever seen. Assembled with intelligence and taste, it casts a wide net over the sea of flamenco and Andalucian folk music, and comes up with nothing but pearls. Each cut is a masterpiece done by a singer renowned for that particular form -- La Perla por alegrias, Fernanda por solea, Toronjo por fandango, and El Pali por sevillanas. No limp jazz-fusion like so many other such anthologies ('Duende' comes to mind), but no geezers either. These are true classics -- old songs that rock just as hard now. In particular "Fiesta en el barrio Santiago" is probably the best recorded buleria of ALL TIME.

The inclusion of Andalucian folk like campanillero and villancico is unorthodox but brilliant -- it helps establish context for the non-Spanish listener. Many of the artists included are hard to find otherwise (e.g. Fernanda)

In a word, BUY IT!

I am still stunned by the track on the CD called "La Zagala". The singer "La nina de la puebla" has a tremendous voice and the song is not like anything I've heard before. This song alone makes the CD worth buing!!! If anyone knows of other recordings by the same artist, I would like to hear about it!

This is a fantastic introduction to the music of flamenco! By far the best "best of" disc on the market. Includes some classic performances by flamenco's great voices, in all the traditional flameco forms (thankfully it has none of the newer "jazz fusion"). Considering the age of some of these recordings, the sound quality is quite good.

This is the disc we started our discovery of flamenco with (our collection now exceeds 75+ discs), and still one we play with great regularity.

This 1997 remastered anthology of flamenco spans recordings of older artists, such as Peral de Cadiz [1925-1975], Manolo Caracol [1909-1973], and Terremoto de Jerez [1936-1981], to contemporary musicians of note, including Carmen Linaresa, Enrique Morente, and Gabriel Moreno. Most of the selections, all cante, are the more light-hearted or festive alegría, bulería, caracole, tiento, and fandango; however, emotionally deeper and slower styles are also represented: siguirya, soléa, and taranta. Flamenco-inspired songs--villancico, campanillero, and nana (originally a lullaby)--are present. Often an anthology will include a track that could be considered ho-hum or an oddball, and track 14 comes as a shock, with its loud, bright electronics and contemporary arrangement following the long series of acoustic traditional forms. The final track is of Colombian origin. Thus, the album provides a wide survey of palo and artistic styles. The collection is also worthy by featuring a number of musicians whose recordings are otherwise not readily available.