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Length: 92 minutes.
Multi-zone DVD compatible with all countries (NTSC and PAL)
Looking to bring both tradition and innovation together in the figure of a single cantaor (flamenco singer), the two first programmes, released with a two or three-year break between them, are devoted to the gypsy cantaor Gabriel Moreno (1974). Contrary to beliefs that are commonplace, Gabriel Moreno does not feel that it is necessary to be gypsy to be a good cantaor, in spite of the fact that he was the first who recorded in caló or romaní, the language of the gypsies, although he doesn't sing in this language in these programmes. In the first recording, alongside the guitar playing of the also deceased Félix de Utrera, we hear him sing soleá and siguiriya 'of the Pavón household', taranta and bulerías. In the second one, entitled 'Voz y baile' (Voice and Dance), again with Félix de Utrera's guitar, he sings tientos-tangos, bulerías and taranto with Murciana.
The third programme is part of the series 'Ritos y geografía del cante', from 1971-72, and is devoted to an excellent cantaor who never came to be a full professional: Platero de Alcalá, whose name refers to Alcalá de Guadaira, a locality in the province of Seville which has a great flamenco tradition. The presenter talks about the great kind of cantaores who preserve the purity of the styles, in spite of everything. In a gathering of conoisseurs, he sings alegrías de Córdoba, granaína y media de Chacón and, of course, the famous soleá de Alcalá.
In the programme 'Lo aflamencado' (Flamencoised music, 1964) we can listen to a review of the 'aflamencado' styles that appear in mid-nineteenth century lounges, as well as the cuplé of the 1920s; el Zorongo, Cuplés, Tangos del Piyayo, 'Guindas al pavo'... It is surprising to find someone who was a paradigm of the 'jondo' (expression used to refer to the purest and most solemn flamenco tradition) featured here, like Terremoto de Jerez. It is clear that Terremoto finishes off the programme as an example of what flamenco really sound like, as if to say "Flamenco is something else, and this is it", rather that what can be heard previously.
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