Saturday 24 October 2009

Manitas de Plata - Manitas et les Siens (1967)


Absolutely stunning gypsy flamenco recorded live at the festival of Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue region of France. During the '60s and '70s, Manitas de Plata (Little Hands of Silver) was one of the most famous flamenco guitarists in the world, playing the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Variety Performance and at a United Nations gala. For purists, his music was too raw and unpredictable to be considered as flamenco, but the improvisational flair of his performances and his ecstatic immersion in the creative moment make for engrossing listening.
Here's some footage:


And just for a treat, here's another clip from Tony Gatlif's moving film about the Rom people, their journeys and their musics, Latcho Drom:


Tracklist:

01 Eglise Maure
02 Sara La Noire
03 Hommage a Baroncelli
04 Benediction de la Mer
Side 2 Senor Carcelero - Galop de Camargue - Fandango de Manero et de Jose - Chant du Berger - Sola Lagrima

Get it HERE.

4 comments:

Richard said...

Happy memories of some of those live appearances...

You've just made an old musician grin like a loon. :-)

Greg Cameron said...

An absolutely brilliant guitarist - my God, listen to him! His guitar speaks the history of his people...Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada

Unknown said...

Just listening to the first few seconds this already seems amazing.

Great post.

soci0path said...

Hello, can you Please re-Upload this release, this is a rare Jam & it can't be often found, Rapidshare link is dead & i really appreciate Old Great artists like Manitas, Sabicas,... they got one thing in common beside the God's gifted hands ; Criminally underrated artists, & people like me who admire their works can't afford baying their records,..
Anyway, i hope you can respond to this request, i'll appreciate it much. i'll pass by some other time to check, Thanks a lot for all time & effort you put on all this just for Sharing sake, i'm new to this corner but the hard work is obviously clear.
Enjoyable listening time Wishes.