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Alatriste -> RE: Ven Te pa' Madrid (Feb. 24 2010 13:34:06)
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For those new and not familiar with the group. Some quick background from the link. Caveats on the accuracy and some of what is written may be opinion. http://www.esflamenco.com/bio/en10233.html
Antonio Carmona. Voice
José Miguel Carmona. Guitar
Juan Carmona. Guitar
The leaders of what has been called New Flamenco, they brought a style that was somewhere between flamenco and pop salsa onto the musical scene that drew as much criticism as praise, but which has won over the young public and has given them millions of sales. In their records they have mixed flamenco with salsa, Brazilian music, reggae, funk, jazz and, in their latest work Dame la Mano, they have been so bold as to mix it with hip hop and house.
Ketama was formed in Madrid in the early eighties, taking its name from a well-known valley in Morocco. The Sorderas and Habichuelas come from two great gypsy flamenco families, and the initiative to set up the band came from the guitarists, José Soto, Sorderita, and Juan Carmona. They were joined by Ray Heredia, the son of the bailaor Josele. Their first work, Ketama, was released in 1985, although it was recorded two years earlier. It was the great gamble by the independent company that was the driving force behind the Jóvenes Flamencos record label, and in a few years it bore its fruits.
First Ray Heredia and later José Soto left the band, and it was joined by José Miguel Carmona, on guitar, and Antonio Carmona, as a lead singer. They earned international recognition with their third record, Songhai, a fusion of flamenco with Toumani Diabate's African kora, which was praised in reviews in The Times and The International Herald Tribune. Nonetheless, their ultimate success was De akí a Ketama, which was recorded live with the participation, among others, of Antonio Flores and Antonio Vega. It sold over a million copies, it spent a year in the Spanish hit parade, and won the Ondas award for Best Album (1995), Best Spanish Group (1996) and the Premio de la Música in the Best Song category in 1996 with the song No estamos lokos. In the same year they contributed to the film Alma Gitana with two songs. In 1998, the band won the Ondas award for the Best Album again, this time with Konfusión, which sold 300,000 copies.
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