Ketama
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After Smash, Veneno, Triana and other ground-breakers, the 1980s were the years of the great explosion of new flamenco: Ketama, Pata Negra, Raimundo Amador, Los Chunguito and Los Chichos, who between them lay the solid foundations for new flamenco to develop in the following decades.
Ketama were the figureheads of new flamenco in the 1980s. The band was formed at the start of the decade, and enjoyed a long career which lasted for twenty years, with millions of records sold. One of Ketama's major achievements is to have attracted young audiences to flamenco and, most importantly, having brought it closer to people who had never previously listened to it.
Ketama's recording history is also very extensive. The first records are more orthodox, but with Songhai (1988), Ketama began to experiment using different musical genres. In this record, it is possible to hear a perfect blend of flamenco and African music (Toumani Diabate's kora).
In …Y es que me han kambiao los tiempos (1990), it is the salsa and rumba that become "flamencoised". Later, it was to be the turn of world music (Konfusión, 1997), blues (Toma
Ketama, 1999), funk, jazz, reggae, Brazilian music… always accompanied by pop. In 2004, before they split up (we don't know if the split will be definitive), they released Dame la mano, a record in which they were so bold as to try their hand with rap, hip hop and house music.
Ketama complies with a number of features that are quite frequent with regards to the figures comprising the new flamenco scene: they often belong to great flamenco families, which is the reason why they have a good knowledge of orthodox flamenco as it has always been. In the case of Ketama, its members belong to the Habichuela and Carmona families.
The Amador brothers' rock and blueslería
The Amador brothers: Pata Negra
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Raimundo Amador also learnt flamenco from his father, who was a guitarist in the military base in Rota. He has been the main driving force behind flamenco coming together with rock and blues. Firstly in Veneno, with Kiko Veneno, but most of all in Pata Negra, with his brother Rafael, and later on his own.
Pata Negra released six albums between 1981 and 1995, without taking re-releases, compilation or live records into account, although in the two last ones, only Rafael remained as a member of the 'band'. Already in Pata Negra (1981) and Rock gitano (1983), it is possible to perceive the great richness of their discovery, featuring flamenco and rock, sifted through the genius of the Amadors.
1985 sees the appearance of Guitarras Callejeras, one of the best gypsy rock records, and in 1987 Pata Negra's best record Blues de la Frontera, which is possibly one of the best in the whole of fusion, sees the light. It was the turn of blues, and its fusion with flamenco reached such a degree that a new genre, the blueslería, began to take its first steps.
Raimundo Amador continued to explore the path of blues as a solo artist. On several occasions, he has stated that gypsies and blacks have plenty in common and consequently, so does their music: feelings and suffering.
This may be the reason for the great blend between these two genres that is achieved in Gerundina (1995), alongside B.B. King, and in En la esquina de las Vegas (1997). Un okupa en tu corazón (2002) does not set aside flamenco-blues, although it also makes space for Cuban sounds, Brazilian music and even rap.
Los Chichos
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Los Chichos and Los Chunguitos are survivors of the 1980s. They were formed during the previous decade, but both bands have continued until the present with their characteristic gypsy rumba, a kind of flamenco rumba that is watered-down and blended with pop, that could be referred to as rumba-pop. Both these groups have experienced numerous ups-and-downs, but they already have their place in the history of music.
They have released many greatest hit and compilation records: Todo Chichos (2004) and Dame Veneno (Los Chunguitos, 2004), with which they celebrate their 30-year musical careers.
The 1990s
From the 1990s onwards, new flamenco has been constantly evolving , and has been "flamencoising" a growing number of different musical styles. There are no longer any frontiers: traditional Spanish music, blues, jazz, chill-out, rap, hip hop, blues, rock, Brazilian music, African sounds, Latin rhythms… A full list would be endless, as would also be the case for the musicians and bands: Navajita Plateá, Mártires del Compás, Barbería del Sur, El Bicho, Lagartija Nick…
It is also important to note the contribution made by flamenco cantaores, who are the heirs of great dynasties of flamenco artists, and possess a good knowledge of orthodox flamenco, but are daring enough to innovate: examples include Estrella Morente, Remedios Amaya, Chonchi Heredia, Diego el Cigala…, and even artists who are already great patriarchs, who venture beyond the limits of orthodoxy: El Lebrijano and Enrique Morente.
Only time will tell if innovation and tradition will co-exist, or whether one of them will end up disappearing. For the time being, it may suffice to bear in mind that the revolutionaries of the past, like Camarón or Paco de Lucía, are the classics of today.
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