SPAIN • CURRO PIÑANA

Curro Piñana is one of the key figures of a style of flamenco that is little known in France, the Cante Minero. This genre developed at the end of the 19th century in the mining regions of Murcia, Cartagena, Jaen, Linares, and Almeria. It includes cartagenas, tarantas, tarantos, mineras and many other forms. This cante tells a story, a meeting, in a few words. It tells us of great cantaores such as Pedro el Morato, Antonio Chacón and Rojo el Alpargatero, who Piñana claims as his spiritual lineage through Don Antonio Piñana, his grandfather, and Antonio Grau, the son of El Rojo. It describes the exhausting life of miners and street vendors, the dangers of being a thief and tells of disappointment in love. This anthology is both an attempt at historical revitalization and a message of modernity. Beyond the minero repertoire known to the aficionados, the embodied singing of Curro has brought back to life styles that had practically disappeared, especially those from the countryside of Cartagena.
This double album features about 30 songs. Curro Piñana is accompanied, one after the other, by the best guitar players of the genre, especially his father Antonio and his brother Carlos.