Following in the footsteps of Ramón Montoya and Paco de Lucía, Catalan guitarist Juan Gómez “Chicuelo” is undoubtedly one of the best of his generation. His music offers new expressions to contemporary flamenco, a trait powerfully inhabited by his third solo album, Uña y Carne.
If the Barcelona native made a name for himself by accompanying great flamenco voices such as Duquende and Miguel Poveda – and also by engaging in cinema dance and Sufi poetry – Chicuelo asserts himself in Uña y Carne as an accomplished composer, soulful guitarist and tightrope technician, carried by an instinctive finesse.
Chicuelo’s brand of flamenco is free and fervent, crossing harmonies and polyrhythms to deliver a gorgeous array of clapped bulerías, heartfelt and choral gypsy sevillanas and personalised rumbas and rondñas. This, along with the lyricism of tangueros violins and jazzy bursts of brass do well to honor the original forms.
“The hands always find the means to play what the heart wants to express” declared Paco de Lucía, the torchbearer of a flamenco renewal that the stupendous Chicuelo can clearly claim to be a part of.
Chicuelo – Uña y Carne (Accords Croisés / PIAS)
In concert on Friday, February 15, at Bal Blomet in Paris as part of the festival Au Fil des Voix.
