Siroco

Since Almoraima (1976) Paco had not recorded an album which we could call authentically Flamenco. Not like his early recordings, which centred on classic guitar toques as played in concert. On Siroco, he abandons for the moment the sound of The Sextet to mark out in eight pieces the new vanguard of Flamenco creation. A record for lovers of good music, a mature and worthy work.
The sirocco is a Saharan wind that lulls and fascinates, which is precisely how you end up after a first listen to this record. Where does so much Flamenco inspiration come from? From the mind of a genius such as Paco. “There are eight or nine toques for the next album, I play them solo, with a group and I back myself with a second guitar. I haven’t decided what I’m going to play, and I record what comes into my imagination. Then I choose what seems best to me,” he commented months after the recording. Beyond doubt, he knew how to choose.
With Siroco he took a giant step in terms of the parameters of Flamenco music: rhythmic, melodic, harmonic or formal; situating himself forever at the height of one of the great authors and interpreters of Spanish music in the 20th century. As Paco Sevilla said in his book: “The music is modern and the energy is old.”
Also playing here are his brothers Ramón de Algeciras and Pepe de Lucía, Rubem Dantas on percussion, José María Bandera (Paco’s nephew with whom he formed a trio alongside Juan Manuel Cañizares), and the dancer Juan Ramírez, giving formidable zapateado.
After a few years dedicated to world tours with The Sextet, with this album Paco returns to the guitar, composing authentic works of art. As Felix Grande has noted in his commentaries: “Flamenco has never sounded like it does here.” Paco in his modest flamenco wisdom added: “That’s that then.”