Search - Manolo Caracol :: Flamenco King

WHOA

09/11/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fantastic CD, this is flamenco puro of the highest level. Caracol brings also a fantastic version of "El Vaquilla" (much later a big hit of Gypsy Kings), the old voice in "Zorongo Gitana", ..."

The real thing

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 07/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is old time Cante Hondo, a delight for purists, and a piece of past history. Like the tango, flamenco has evolved into quite a different musical form, with much more polish and structure, but for my taste, both lost some of their "bite" and soul in the process.The great Manolo Caracol (1909-1973), headlines this CD, with his photo on the cover, but he only sings 3 of the 10 tracks. The other cantaores are El Duende on tracks 2, 4, and 7, Antonio El Flecha on track 5, Paco Muriana El Niño del Brillante track 8, Bernardo el de los Lobitos track 9, and Pepe El Culata track 10.# 4, El Duende's "El Vaquilla", # 6, Caracol's "Tientos", and Paco Muriana's "Zorongo Gitano", with words by Garcia Lorca (# 9), are the highlights of this CD for me, but all the songs are wonderful, and the guitar accompaniment is excellent throughout.
Total time is 39'11, and though these are old recordings, kudos to Orfeon for the digital sound, which is good, and so much better than one would expect for this type of historical recording."