Search - Mayte Martin, Labeque Sisters :: De Fuego y de Agua

Best album of 2008

Daniel Fernandez | Sydney, New South Wales Australia | 01/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mayte Martin is an acclaimed flamenco singer in Spain, the Labeque sisters are classical pianists, the three have come together to create an album of unimaginable beauty.



To start off this is not a flamenco album, it's really a classical piano duet album with a flamenco singer. This sort of piano-flamenco singer duet is all the vogue at the moment... particularly with Latin Jazz pianists... and in my mind I have found these fusions less than convincing... I guess the reason why this album works is because unlike other albums where they have tried to fuse the genres and create a flamenco-jazz, flamenco-soul, etc mix in this album they are not doing this. Rather than fuse genres they are using a genre (classical piano) and having other genres influence it - whether the genre be flamenco, classical guitar, tango, bolero, etc.



The decision to influence rather than fuse makes the execution of this album superb. Mayte Martin has toned down her flamenco instincts to suit the different musical world she is inhabiting. The Labeque sisters have taken songs from various genres (genres with a classical European influenced tradition in general) and made them piano works in a classical mould. The mix is sublime.



I can't recommend this album enough..."