America is the land of milk & honey and España the land of los toros y flamenco, no?
Well, no.
Yes some people in Spain do actually still listen to Flamenco. But not in the way that you would expect. Listening to RadioOle, the station with the traditional flamenco songs has become taboo, or at least just very un-cool for young folks, like me. However, this does not put a stop to the flamenco infused rock (arguably called Gitano Rock), pop, fandango, chill wave, and lots more coming over the rest of the radio stations and DJ booths. Among my favorites of the groups I’ve been exposed to are the ones you’ll see below….I love, love, love Estopa. It takes a while to get used to the rhythms in their rock music, because they’re flamenco rhythms and not your typical pop 4 by 4 hook snap crack your fixed for the next three weeks kind of thing. Nor are they what you hear all of the time now coming from our American airwaves–this brand of dub step inspired pop–which I have to admit, I’m waiting on the Flamenco infused dubstep…2014, chiquillo!!
So without further ado, here are the Best Songs of Flamenco Pop or Rumba Rock or.. Direct from Spain to you, with lots of love…
This duo is part of an important movement in global music making the traditional, new, and the new, traditional. You can hear all kind of things in the music of the duo from Madrid and Cordoba: electro, funk, rock, but also flamenco. Their name comes from one of the classic flamenco derivations, the “fandango,” similar to the bolero. This name is partly because of collaboration between a man and a woman, the beautiful high pitched voice of singer Nita and the music of Ale Acosta who has loads of experience, he is amongst others member of Mojo Project. Their debut album Fuel Fandango was recorded in 15 days, to keep things fresh. And that’s what they did. It has become an organic mix. I haven’t heard of too many people listening to them yet, but they are up and coming.
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05. “Caminando Por la Vida”
by Melendi
Early on during my time here in Spain a friend who is no longer a friend asked me if I knew who Melendi was? I said, no. He said what the hell you can’t be here in Spain and not know who Melendi is. And here is where my journey with this Asturian musician born in 1979 began. Now I have fallen in love with his pop songs and cara de gilipolla and also his song that pretty much summarizes the Spanish way (estereotype alert) of walking without rushing….See the video here.
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Aaand here’s one more just released by Fuel Fandango this month, a kind of honorable mention:
