Search - Juan Carmona :: Antes

In 1984 a young and upcoming flamenco guitarist from Provence, France, recorded a series of short musical sketches that were never subsequently published. These were primarily solo guitar works, with some flute and bass added for color. The now more famous Juan Carmona has reworked and released these togues under the title Antes ("Before"). Adding palmas, some wonderful percussion, and occasionally a second guitar, he has created new flamenco from old and given us a small but wonderful guitar album of warmth and energy. The amazing skill of the young Carmona is unquestionable, and his ideas and improvisations are as fresh today as they were when he was part of the flourishing "new flamenco" scene of the early '80s. The current additions are minimalist but essential. The percussion parts are bright and gutsy, the handclaps (briefly passé during the fad period) bring it back to the deeper roots, and the overall production is clean, lacking the overreverbed effects we would have been subject to in 1984. But the core of this is still a look back at an earlier Carmona, a brilliant young guitarist with a bright future, then and now. --Louis Gibson