Search - Various Artists :: Flamenco Fire & Grace

THERE REALLY IS SOME FLAMENCO HERE!

L. K. Coleman | New Orleans, LA USA | 10/02/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Considering the great quantity of truly non-flamenco music out there masquerading as "Flamenco" (e.g., "Gypsy Passion," "Gypsy Soul," anything by Otmar Liebert - and calling it "new" flamenco doesn't entitle it to be called flamenco), it's more than a little harsh to label this album "not really flamenco." Granted, this isn't Agujetas, Antonio Mairena, Manolo Caracol, etc., etc. - the extremely earthy, unvarnished flamenco of old for which one needs to develop a definite taste. But there's some very good stuff here nonetheless. A minor criticism: I wonder why there's two cuts by Bastide when there could have been two cuts instead by Paco de Lucia, whose style Bastide tries to imitate. And one VERY LARGE criticism: What's Jesse Cook doing on this album? He has nothing to do with Flamenco. That's like going to an aquarium exhibit entitled "Great Fish of the World" and finding a guppy swimming nervously in a tank of sharks and barracudas - but which is provided an identification tag the same size as all the other fish. That only serves to inflate the role of the guppy beyond all proportion."

Not bad for Narada

Ricardo Antonio | Sevilla, Andalucia Spain | 05/13/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Narada signs up modern "flamenco" artists but I gave it a try anyway. It's not all that bad considering it's labeled "Flamenco: Fire and Grace". All tracks are modern flamenco and most are those types that are called "background music" or "elevator music". I am a traditional flamenco guitarist so excuse me for being biased but modern flamenco just doesn't move me. There's just no passion in it. And why was that particular Jesse Cook track on the cd? It's like something I would listen to to help me with my bowel movements."