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Some time in the late 1980s--a little before the time of this video--a flamenco show came to San Francisco. My japanese girlfriend asked me to take her. I was dubious, but inspection of the cast list changed my mind.
We sat in the front row of the balcony in a large auditorium. Like most tourist shows the performance was slanted toward dance, but it was well done with good cante, toque and palmas accompaniment.
Maybe 15 or 20 minutes into the performance a guitarist was seated at the front and a singer stepped up to perform solo. He was slender, had dark skin. He stood to one side of the microphone, ignoring it. After a guitar intro he filled the large room with a brillliant baritone, perfectly controlled, clearly enunciated.
During the enthusiastic applause, my girlfriend whispered, "My God, that was something!"
My exposure to flamenco traditions began When I got the movie “Flamenco” by Saura in 1995. The performance that left the strongest impression on me was the soleá, of which 3 versions were presented: fernanda, Carrasco w merce, and farruco w chocolate. The heaviest expression For me was chocolate. It would be a long journey before I realized he was singing the iconic serneta As recorded by Tomás Pavón, and I started looking Backwards to the oldest singers for that inspiration. He died one summer the very day I was leaving Spain.
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