\u201cTwo Roads\u201d (\u201cDos Caminos<\/i>\u201d), both fortunate and, very likely, with a happy ending. We\u2019re not trying to guess the future, but in this\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0from Chipiona we can find essence, naturality and authenticity, something very hard to find these days. It is true that those who deserve success not always achieve it, yet something very unexpected would have to happen to prevent Samuel Serrano from becoming a big star in a few years. At this point, when he\u2019s not even 25 years old, he performs an old-fashioned style of\u00a0cante<\/i>\u00a0which is loved by many, particularly the\u00a0cabales<\/i>\u00a0(experts) of\u00a0cante jondo<\/i>. Belonging to the Agujetas lineage and having clear influences such as Juan Talega and Jos\u00e9 Merc\u00e9, he has entrusted Paco Cepero to produce his very convincing first album.<\/p>\n
We could also see this in a different perspective: How lucky has Samuel Serrano been, for having the trust of Cepero! If this album is full of authenticity, it\u2019s because its protagonist doesn\u2019t ignore the century he lives in or the musical tastes of flamenco aficionados, and that\u2019s why he offers an unambiguous range of orthodox flamenco in styles such as the\u00a0martinete<\/i>\u00a0or the\u00a0sole\u00e1<\/i>. It\u2019s a pleasure to listen to his\u00a0fandangos<\/i>, which remind us of El Chocolate, or his\u00a0alegr\u00edas<\/i>, where he leans his rhythm on Cepero\u2019s guitar, which never loses the scent of his flavourful technicality with the aroma of C\u00e1diz. The\u00a0taranta<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0seguiriya<\/i>\u00a0complete one of the two parts demanded by the album\u2019s tittle: \u201cDos Caminos<\/i>\u201d.<\/p>\n
Looking at the past, he gets to the present and finds his future. It\u2019s unquestionable that the baton of the master from Jerez shapes this CD, something we can corroborate listening to six tracks, written by his own hand, which keep the rhythmic line that gave great success to\u00a0cantaores<\/i>\u00a0in the golden age of festivals, such as Juan Villar, Chiquetete, Pansequito and Turronero. The authorship is shared with the poet Antonio Murciano, from Arcos de la Frontera. Following this line, we get to the\u00a0buler\u00edas<\/i>\u00a0(‘Mata de Romero<\/i>‘), leading up to the\u00a0tangos<\/i>\u00a0(‘Gitano canastero<\/i>‘ and ‘Cobarde Cobarde<\/i>‘), arriving to Spanish-Latin flamenco songs such as ‘Me est\u00e1s matando<\/i>‘ and ‘\u00c1guila Real<\/i>‘, or the\u00a0rumba<\/i>\u00a0‘Pares y Nones<\/i>‘, where the\u00a0palmas<\/i>\u00a0of Jos\u00e9 Rubichi, El Bo and Paco Habano play a crucial role.<\/p>\n
The presentation of this album took place in the historic Venta de Vargas, in the presence of artists such as Rancapino, Antonio Reyes, Antonio Carri\u00f3n, Jos\u00e9 Mijita, Antonio Higuero. Also in attendance was the writer Enrique Montiel or other personalities such as Amador Mohedano (who discovered Samuel many years ago in their hometown) or the director of the\u00a0Diario de C\u00e1diz<\/i>\u00a0newspaper, David Fern\u00e1ndez. The presence and contribution of Manuel Mart\u00edn Mart\u00edn (awarded the National Prize of Flamencology) was priceless, as he made an in-depth description of what this album represents for the artist and for flamenco. There we listened to some\u00a0martinetes<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0fandangos<\/i>, where Paco Cepero once again proved to be a brilliant guitarist and composer. Cepero thanked Diego Magallanes for his musical arrangements and also the collaboration of Juan Antonio Espinosa Soto, the sound engineer who \u201ccontributed so much\u201d to this album.<\/p>\n
By Juan Garrido<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n
Translated by P. Young<\/span><\/p>\n