Search - Son De La Frontera :: Cal

Marvellous modern flamenco from Seville

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 02/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Son De La Frontera are a dynamic new flamenco group from Seville, Spain that plays raw-boned, energetic Spanish flamenco, with a warm stylistic twist. Guitarist Raul Rodriguez introduces the double-stringed Cuban tres guitar into the flamenco ouvre, and the cross-cultural experiment pays high dividends. The mellifluous tres, which lends itself to melodic improvisation, adds a fluidity to the ofttimes severe flamenco style, while the crushing muscularity of flamenco gives the tres a bit of a goose, demanding it be played with more authority and force. Mostly, though, this is a traditionalist album, with Rodriguez and his cohorts taking up the mantle from one of Seville's master musicians, Diego del Gastor, who developed much of the group's repertoire. If you enjoy flamenco with its original raw, elemental power, the thunderous chords and keening vocals, then this second album -- like their debut from a couple of years earlier -- will knock your socks off. Recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue music reviews)"