In Focus - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 593

companist Paco de Lucía observed,
'Camarón's cracked voice could evoke, on its
own, the desperation of a people'.
Paco de Lucía, born in Algeciras in 1947,
is the doyen of flamenco guitarists with a vir-
tuosity few can match. He is also almost
single-handedly responsible for transforming
the guitar, formerly the junior partner of the
flamenco trinity, into an instrument of solo ex-
pression far beyond traditional limits. Such is
his skill that de Lucía can sound like two or
three people playing together and, for many
in the flamenco world, he is the personifica-
tion of duende .

Flamenco Festivals

1 BIENAL DE FLAMENCO,
SEVILLE (SEPTEMBER)

2 FESTIVAL DE JEREZ, JEREZ
DE LA FRONTERA (FEBRUARY-
MARCH)

3 FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE
LA GUITARRA, CÓRDOBA (JUNE-
JULY)

New Flamenco
Flamenco is enjoying something of a golden
age, but part of its appeal lies in a new gen-
eration of artists broadening flamenco's hori-
zons. In the 1970s musicians began mixing
flamenco with jazz, rock, blues, rap and other
genres. At the forefront of the transformation
was Enrique Morente (b 1942), referred to by
one Madrid paper as 'the last bohemian' and
a cult figure who enjoys rare popularity among both purists and the new generation
of flamenco aficionados. While careful not to alienate flamenco purists, Morente,
through his numerous collaborations across genres, helped lay the foundations for
Nuevo Flamenco (New Flamenco) and Fusion.
Other genres to have made their way into the repertoire of Nuevo Flamenco in-
clude rock (Kiko Veneno and Raimundo Amador), jazz and blues (Pata Negra), Lat-
in and African rhythms (Ketama and Diego El Cigala), reggae, Asian and dance
rhythms (Ojos de Brujo), and electronica (Chambao). When it comes to dance,
Joaquín Cortés fuses flamenco with contemporary dance, ballet and jazz, accom-
panied by music at rock-concert amplification.

4 FESTIVAL FLAMENCO, MADRID
(FEBRUARY)

5 SUMA FLAMENCO, MADRID
(MAY)