Nuevos Medios
15 829

Nuevos Medios is perhaps the preeminent Spanish record label dedicated to present-day Flamenco performers. Its Nuevos Medios Colección is centered on key figures in the Nuevo Flamenco genre. This includes performers Joan Albert Amargos, Aurora, La Barberia del Sur, Carles Benavent, Diego Carrasco, José El Franco, Tino Di Geraldo, Pepe Habichuela, Ketama, Martirio, Ruper Ordorika, Jorge Pardo, Pata Negra, Rafael Riqueni, Tomas San Miguel, Sorderita, Tabletom and Tomatito. The Spanish Table is a three-store US outfit with outlets in Seattle's Pike Street Market, Santa Fe and Berkeley that specialize in Latin foods and music and import select Flamenco delicatessen including the entire Nuevos Medios collection.


The present Year 2002 CD compilation celebrates Flamenco prodigy Antonio Vargas Cortés aka El Potito whose pre voice-drop 1990 debut album Andando Por Los Caminos [CBS 466822-2] remains a watershed album in Flamenco song, of a precocious youngster who sang with all the experience-defying maturity of an old man already on his very first album. This prompted every single living Spanish guitar great to participate on said album - Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Tomatito, Rafael Riqueni, Enrique de Melchor, Isidro Muñoz, Jose Manuel Cañizares, Moraito Chico, Manolo Franco, José Antonio Rodriguez and José Manual Bandera.


The 10 cuts of El Potito revisit the outstanding "La Niña Del Canastero" and "Mia Pa Los Restos" from Potito's 1996 release Mia Pa Los Restos [Nuevos Medios 15 688] but none from the CBS albums Andando or Macandé. Accompanying collaborators are some of the hardest-working regulars in current Flamenco: Guitarists Tomatito, Juan José 'Paquete' Suarez, Manuel Parilla and Agustín 'Bola' Carbonell; sax player Jorge Pardo; bassist Carles Benavent; and singers Estrella Morente, Chonchi Heredia and Enrique 'Negri' Heredia who also stand in on palmas and percussion. Besides Duquende and Miguel Poveda, Potito is the most exciting young male Flamenco vocalist since Camaron's untimely death. Both solidly planted in the old tradition and its new offshoots like the Brazilian/Salsa/Jazz fusion of Ketama and Aurora, Potito's song is authentically Flamenco, full of complex timing with its liberally drawn-out lyrics, the hoarse shouts, warbling accents and metallic timbre but, most importantly, the fire and fury which mark the genre.


The present collection combines traditional solo Bulerias accompanied by guitar only with far more modern exploits that interject high-speed sax & bass riffs with Latin percussion and tongue-breaking chorus patterns like on the 8-minute long "Una Vez Tendí La Mano"; duetizing between Potito's Flamenco puro idiom and Negri's more Ketama-esque style as on "Jesús de Nazaret"; or the modern Gitan juerga of "Mia Pa Los Restos" with Chonchi Heredia on opposing vocals. This thematic and stylistic variety affords the listener a broad insight and appreciation for Flamenco's many colorful facets of expression and a comprehensive introduction into the art of El Potito, the little dove with the hair-raising pipes.