Baró Drom

Baró Drom, meaning ‘great road’ in the Romani language, nods to flamenco's gitano (gypsy) heritage. Granada born singer de la Carrasca has travelled his own road away from the genre's Spanish centres to France. This distance affords him the licence to experiment. He complements the traditional instrumentation of guitars and percussion with bass and piano, allowing for a fuller, groovier feel. The earworm chorus and beguiling guitar licks of opener ‘Baró Drom’ begin a run of catchy and punchily arranged pieces. ‘La Fuerza del Destino’ marks a more experimental turn. De la Carrasca's rugged vocals rise from an electronic sound bed, tipping us into trip-hop territory. The fierce rat-a-tat-tat of Ana Pérez's zapateado (tap dancing) roots us in the traditional as the piece climaxes. The album's apotheosis can be found in ‘El Barquero de Cantillana’. Propelled by flamenco palmas (claps), de la Carrasca sings of a trabuco (blunderbuss)-toting bandit who meets a tragi-heroic end. This nueva flamenco style proves as compelling a vehicle for storytelling as anything traditional.