This CD features the 2 winners - Jos Serrano and Antonio "El Agujetas" - of the Nacional de Cante Flamenco Penitenciario which was held in Crdoba Prison. The album was recorded in March 1997 and produced by Jos Delgado. As a result of the contest and recording, both men have now been given provisional parole in a manner reminiscent of Leadbelly, composer of "Goodnight Irene", who was similarly freed on the grounds of his musical abilities.

As you would expect, the album is suffused with rather more than the usual quantity of soulful melancholy - after all, Serrano spent 18 years and Agujetas 12 years in jail - which really informs the slower cantes and at times has the hair standing up on your hands. The downside is that they seem to struggle somewhat with the mood of the more driving cantes.

Serrano comes off best in this as his buleras really belt along but his tangos and alegras, although extremely good, don't quite match up to his sole or fandango libre. The producer is partly to blame in this as he tends to mix the guitars too far forward and distance the voice even more by an injudicious use of echo. Serrano's range and melodic invention recall Camarn, but his tone is darker and more aggressive with more than a suggestion of El Terremoto.

Agujetas, from one of flamenco's most famous families, similarly makes a fine job of his seguiriyas and malagueas but turns out a comparatively weak buleras. It is immediately apparent that he is very much in the mould of his father: strongly traditional with great use of melisma and that almost strangulated vocal tone at the end of lines (if you don't know Agujetas Senior, check out his martinete in Saura's film "Flamenco"). If you like Agujetas Senior, you'll like his son. Both singers on this CD are fundamentally quite traditional in their approach, despite the odd 'Camaronism' on Serrano's part. Their accompaniment, by Rafael Trenas and Miguel Ochando is traditional, sympathetic and supportive. If I were a cantaor, I'd want one of these guys to back me. Despite my reservations, I'd say this is an excellent and, at times, inspired album that belongs in every flamenco collection.

The performances on this CD mainly highlight the guitarists while the other contributors very competently provide a little extra light and shade. Fillmore's gift for melodic invention shines through every track as one memorable theme follows hard on another backed up by Jasper Lockefeer's equally melodic counterpoint.

In the main, the palos used are at the lighter end of the flamenco spectrum - rumbas, buleras, colombianas etc. - which places this firmly in the niche of "easy-listening" flamenco. What makes it easiest to listen to is, nevertheless, the evident quality of the playing. The sheer joie de vivre of the colombiana "Gatito Negro" is irresistible while the buleras "Le Le Re" had my friend Manolo (who knows a thing or two about flamenco) convinced he was listening to somebody from Baja Andaluca!

"Axerqua", the title track and the one which closes the album, goes deeper emotionally, taking full advantage of the melodic possibilities and melancholic tonality of the minera. Fast becoming one of my favourite albums to unwind to!

Page editor: Amal Chatterjee
Page last updated: 6 January 1998.