Various Artists – ‘Flamenco: Pasión En Peligro’ [Album Review]

Flamenco: Pasión En Peligro, which translates to Flamenco: Passion In Danger, is the soundtrack to the upcoming award-winning documentary produced by Madeleine Y. Gomez. The documentary explores the culture, music, and artists of the Flamenco art form, avoiding the ersatz, commercialized versions of Flamenco marketed to tourists.

According to Gomez, “These canned versions are arguably not Flamenco. The costumes, the hair combs, the footwork, the castanets, the excitement will always be part of the beauty of Flamenco, but we must never forget that Flamenco Puro is so much more than that.”

Developed in Andalusia (southern Spain), Flamenco comprises three components: cante (song), toque (guitar) and baile (dance). Because of its dramatic effect, many presume the dance is the focal point of Flamenco, while the truth is that the cante forms the central point of Flamenco.

Encompassing a dozen tracks, Flamenco: Pasión En Peligro begins with La Susi’s rendition of “La Rosa Cautiva,” with production from Diego Amador. Amador’s recently released album, El Silencio Es Oro, reveals an artist at the height of his career.

“La Rosa Cautiva” opens on soft, gleaming colors flowing into a low-slung, passionate melody topped by La Susi’s evocative, poignant vocals. Over layers of emotive strings, sparkling piano, and ardent Spanish guitar, La Susi narrates the heartache of love.

Entry points on the album include “Vengo De La Carbonera,” with its dazzling, sensational guitar providing the foundation for La Susi’s heated voice, unfurling an intense tale in each note. A personal favorite, Peter Baime’s “Rondeña,” displays his masterful guitar work, rippling and gliding, pausing, and running with quixotic flavors, accented by fierce outbursts.

Perhaps the best track, “Soy Flamenco,” rides staccato hand claps and complex guitar coloration as Diego Amador Jr.’s chanting vocals imbue the lyrics with strident timbres.

At once sumptuous and smoldering with voluptuous, exotic savors, Amador’s “Fuente Serena” closes the album off. Syncopated percussion, velvety vocal harmonies, plucking strings, and a strumming guitar merge together as accompanying mawwal-like vocals give the song a seductive threnody.

The world created by Flamenco: Pasión En Peligro conjures up the committed dynamics of Flamenco as the music moves and breathes as if alive.

Flamenco: Pasión En Peligro Track Listing:

1. La Rosa Cautiva
2. Callejita Oscura
3. D e La Corriente Del Agua
4. Rumba
5. Calle Bleeker
6. Vengo De La Carbonera
7. Rondeña
8. Farruca
9. Calle Tethaun
10. Soy Flamenco
11. Puerta Real (Bulerias Millenia)
12. Fuente Serena

Run Time: 52:19
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Record Label: Wake Up! Music