Search - El Lebrijano :: Casablanca

Fusion of Spanish and Moroccan music

H. Beijers | Utrecht, The Netherlands | 04/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Casablanca is a beautiful fusion of Spanish and Moroccan music. Sometimes half spoken, most of the times sung with the beautiful hoarse voice of El Lebrijano, with flamenco-guitars on the background, arab choruses and violins. Listening to this CD gives you a Piazzola-kind of authentic atmosphere. Close you're eyes and imagine being in a small, dark bar in one of the narrow streets of Malaga, with good tapas and a nice glass of Spanish wine."

This is the future of flamenco.

Mar Calpena | Barcelona, Spain | 12/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Juan Peña El lebrijano is known in Spain as one main renovetors of Flamenco of the XXth (and already of the XXIst) century, altough he has been critized by purists about his interest in mixing andalusian music with arabic one and therefore rediscovering the melodic links of both sides of the Mediterranean. However, his music never sounds cheap or unauthentic. He's a soulfull virtuoso who knows his palos inside out but is not afraid to experiment (in another album, called "Lagrimas de cera", he even mixes flamenco with bulgarian voices and a japanese singer... and it works flawlessly). He often uses poetry of very respected poets in his work, and in a way (although a very strange one at that) he could be called "the Leonard Cohen of flamenco".
Casablanca is the second of his records featuring the arabigo-andalusi orchestra from Tetuan. Their first joint venture dates from twenty years before and still sounds just as cool. If you are new to flamenco, you are going to love this. If you are not, you already know this is the future."