This never-before-released recording of Camarón de la Isla is another gift for the singer’s countless admirers. Just over fifty minutes of cante by José Monje Cruz, a boy of less than 17 at the time, who was already called «Camarón» by friends and family due to his fair skin and hair, registered on the tape recorder purchased by Juan Vargas in order to capture treasures of cante such as this.
Towards
the end of the nineteen-sixties, the Venta de Vargas was a landmark –
from the end of the thirties the crème de la crème of flamenco
passed through. It was a veritable university of flamenco whose headmaster
was called Manuel Ortega, Caracol.
That wondrous summer evening Camarón left recorded evidence of
his surprising knowledge of cante, and the flamenco messages that for
some reason were not circulated during his lifetime.
The first four cantes of the record were registered in the outdoors,
in the very door of the inn from the counter that faced the kitchen. The
sound is clear and transparent and captures, without any echo, the subtleties
in Camarón’s voice and guitar.
The second half, cantes six through ten, are another story. They are
from a private fiesta in the backroom of the inn. The background noise
and a certain excess of echo made cleaning and masterization difficult.
The bulerías recall El Chozas and Pastora; the siguiriyas are of
El Nitri, Terremoto and Pastora; the fandangos are Caracol and de la Calzá;
the tarantos are Chacón and Manuel Torre and some Extremaduran
tangos are clearly Porrinas and la Marelu.
As we lovingly peeled away the layers one by one, and discovered the
heart of these cantes, some never-before-heard verses in Camarón’s
voice, and an immortal Camarón, we realized just what we had in
our hands.
(From the booklet of “Camarón en la Venta de Vargas”
by Ricardo Pachón and Enrique Montiel).
«Camarón en la Venta de Vargas» goes on sale February
21st.
