[.ca] My Songs And A Poem

Chronique amazon.fr:
Tel père, telle fille. À tout juste vingt ans, Estrella Morente offre déjà toute la force d'interprétation que nécessite l'art flamenco. À l'image d'Enrique, son cantaor de père, qui a adopté pour ce premier album une sélection de 14 chansons traditionnelles du répertoire. La jeune femme, elle, a travaillé également sur ces pièces bouleversantes, sevillanas, alegrias, bulerías et tangos. Elle a même composé "For Pastora", une sévillane toute en retenue, qui constitue le "poem" du titre. On s'interroge cependant sur la langue anglaise présente sur toutes les notes de pochette, jusqu'aux titres des chansons. Alors que, naturellement, l'Andalouse ne chante qu'en espagnol. Curieux procédé commercial qui dessert la forme de l'oeuvre en voulant en expliciter le fond. Un fond indiscutable, qui réunit Pépé et Juan Habichuela, Alfredo Lagos ou Manolo Sanlúcar, pour ne citer que ceux-là parmi les plus fins guitaristes au sud du Guadalquivir. Le timbre voilé d'Estrella monte des notes de feu dans "At The Top Of The Cerro De Palomares", et répond au "Jaleo" (le ramdam flamenco) dans "Pilgrims". En dehors de cette faute de goût des producteurs - l'auditeur s'amusera donc à traduire les titres en espagnol, s'il sait... - ces chansons apportent un bonheur et un plaisir durable. --José Ruiz

From Amazon.co.uk:
Considering how popular flamenco is in Britain, it's remarkable how few flamenco singers there are on our musical landscape. Estrella Morente's My Songs and a Poem is therefore a notable event, for this young Spaniard's debut CD marks her out as a great singer in the making. Her voice is on the light side, often girlish, but it has an enormous range of colour, and it fairly crackles with combustion when required to do so. As her dedication puts it: "to all the great singers in my family, El Tio Miguel, El Gitano de Valladolid, uncle Pedro Carbonell…" For Estrella hails from gypsy Andalusia, and as the daughter of the great Enrique Morente she is carrying the true flamenco torch. Enrique has long championed new poetry as a revivifying source for flamenco, and he himself is the producer of this record, which consists of Estrella's own arrangements of traditional flamenco songs. The guitar accompaniments are superb; the clapping, stamping and shouting reflects the fact that Estrella is a true possessor of that mysterious quality, "duende".--Michael Church

Stunningly beautiful!:
Estrella Morente, at the young age of twenty, churns out some of the finest and most exquisite vocals I've heard in quite some time. Her range is amazing, and her meticulous vocal style befits that of someone twice her age. This is modern flamenco at its best. The guitarists are brilliant, too. The only one I recognize is Alfredo Lagos. The other musicians are apparently well-known, but I'm a relative neophyte to purist flamenco, having Ottmar Liebert as my only frame of reference (which really isn't a frame of reference at all). Pardon my ignorance. Nevertheless, I believe my taste in music is eclectic, and that I have an ear for quality stuff. Trust me, this is quality. Get it!

Chef d'oeuvre:
Many a self respecting cantaora would consider a CD of this calibre to be her masterpiece, the culmination of a life's work. This is actually the first solo album from a 20 year old. It begins with an Alegrias, then a Tango, then a Bulerias, each done in an acoustic but modern "Pop" style. (This is necessary in the Flamenco world for an album to sell these days. Traditional Flamenco and Cante of any sort do not usually sell as well as instrumental guitar music. The Pop tracks sell the disc, then the singer can go on to whatever they realy like to do the most.) However, on this disc this is neither a concession nor a drawback. The opening tracks are excellent. It's when she gets into the more traditional Solea and the Bulerias de la Bola that you hear what this woman is really capable of. She's a master of the Solea and the Buleria, two of the most traditional and most difficult of Flamenco styles. She then goes on to a Media Granaina, a Sevillanas, another Buleria, a Malaguena, a Tangos, another Solea, then a Taranta, then wraps it up with a Buleria and another Taranta, clearly having a masterful grasp of each style. This is an artist to keep an eye on. Where she goes from here is anyone's guess, but it will no doubt be an interesting journey. On this album she backs herself with a who's-who of Toque Masters. I'm referring to the guitarists Pepe Habichuela, Juan Habichuela, Manolo Sanlucar, Alfredo Lagos, Josema Carmona, Antonio Carmona and Jose Carbonell Montoyita. What a lineup for someone's first album!!! Do I recommend this CD? Should I be bold enough to say that this is one for the Flamenco history books? I have a lot of Flamenco albums and this is one of the few that I listen to over and over again. Great for focusing on, great for background. I'd recommend the Spanish edition of this CD entitled "Mi Cante y un Poema" if you can get your hands on it. The liner notes are better, if you can understand the Spanish. The translations on the English version of this disc are a bit rough. Either CD, however, won't leave you disappointed if you like Flamenco. The music is what matters.

Almost Perfect:
It really doesn't get much better than this. However, there are some small problems. For example, the lyrics are unfortunately all translated to English and though I have a poor understanding of Spanish, even I can tell that they are not fantastically accurate. Therefore, anyone wishing to learn more about the cante will have to do a lot of backwork to get the most they can from this record. (Also note that the cante on this record is partially non-traditional in form.) Since most of the recording was "live" there are some mixing problems. On many of the tracks Estrella's incredible voice distorts when she hits a forte dynamic. While this is unfortunate from an audiophile stance it somewhat lends to the raw, "authentic" feel of the record. Most of the time the sound production at a flamenco performance is lackluster so this seems to kinda fit within the genre's idiom. There was also a mild overabundance of tarantas that pleased the musician in me, but not the dancer. I simply wanted more groove. That and the track, Let Sunday Come, featured Estrella's voice douobled all throughout which, besides being a decidedly non-live effect, annoyed the hell out of me. That aside Estrellas salida on "Pilgrims" alone is worth the price of the album, and "Bulerias of the Bola" is an absolute must have for any flamenco afficionado. Buy this record now.

A stellar performance:
It's a rare album that has no weak songs, no filler material, no below-par padding, no moments where you hit the skip button. "My song and a poem" is such a rarity. All of its 14 songs are beautifully crafted and each offers treasures of singing and playing that royally repay repeated, careful listening. One of the great joys of the album is the warmth and intimacy of the recording, which catches every nuance of the intricate, driving guitar work and of Estrella's exquisite voice. For example on one of the tracks with guitar maestro Manolo Sanlucar, her husky murmur of appreciation "ole" comes in intimate response to his delicate introduction to the moving "Alcazaba". It's like sitting in on the session Real flamenco is a tough sell to the masses - hence the prominence of "lite" variants such as Ottmar Liebert. And to be frank, Estrella Morente is too roots and too real to be really accessible to most AOR-spoiled ears. But anyone who owns (and plays) more than a couple of CDs on the Real World label will enjoy this one.

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