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I am new to flamenco. I wish to study the source of all of this. I am interested in the earliest ever recordings. Can anyone recommend any cds, and where to buy them?
The oldest recordings are not necessarily the "source" - each generation has taken their cultural inheritance and interpreted it in their own ways, and adding their own creations.... some styles mentioned in earlier writings had already disappeared by the time audio recording began (eg. playeras), other styles were firmly established before recordings began and are well documented in recordings (eg. Siguiriyas, Soleares), others have been developed since the advent of recording technology and are poorly represented in the earliest recordings (eg. Bulerías). Tangos is supposed to have existed before Tientos evolved, but on the earliest recordings I have Tientos is represented, but not Tangos. Later on Tangos seems to have revived, and modern recordings are full of Tangos.... but not so much Tientos....
Wowo , that is difficult to listen to ... there is software that could clean it up somewhat ,, take that treble crackle off , it may not help though ... some here could try that if they had the time ... but its interesting though ... jeez ... a wax cylinder in Andalucia ... it would melt ... !
jeez ... a wax cylinder in Andalucia ... it would melt ... !
Haha... it was pretty hard to hear the music under the crackling. Its amazing any of those cylinders survived. I have to say that I am impressed with Vinyl. If its kept well, you can play 70 or 80 year old recordings and they still sound good. Our digital recordings will not last nearly as long!
Ricardo - there was discussion earlier about how Soleares is generally played more slowly today than 100 years ago. That recording you posted is more like solea por buleria today.
Posts: 233
Joined: Apr. 7 2005
From: Adelaide, Australia
RE: Historical recordings (in reply to Njål Bendixen)
^ I'm a big fan of the Cilindros de Cera CD set, they've cleaned up the sound really well.
Another great source of early flamenco is the book + audio DVD by Norman Kliman & Rafael Chaves Arcos "Los Cantes Mineros - a través de los registros de pizarra y cilindros". The book is 568 pages long and is incredibly comprehensive, and the dvd has several hundred audio tracks, the earliest from the 1890s, the majority from 1910 - 1930 (as the title suggests the tracks are all cantes mineros). Not something you would play at a dinner party of non-aficionados, but for the hardcore flamenco nerd this is fantastic.
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