Calles del Olvido

Alejandro Valdés grew up in the province of Camagüey in central Cuba, playing percussion and bass before picking up guitar and falling for flamenco. After leading various groups he founded the award-winning Cuban flamenco sextet Palo de Agua in 2016, garnering a national reputation for live shows that involved a troupe of foot-stomping, palmas-clapping flamenco dancers and a sound that bridged Cuba and Spain with innovative flair. Calles del Olvido is the long-awaited debut album by Valdés and co, a deeper dive into the musical links between the two countries, widely acknowledged in Cuban genres such as son and bolero but relatively unexamined in relation to flamenco.

Taking his cue from the iconic proponents of nuevo flamenco – Camarón de la Isla, Paco de Lucía, Tomatito – Valdés has put his own stamp on the music, folding batá drums into bulerias, melding the energy and passion – the in-the-zone duende – intrinsic to both flamenco and certain aspects of Afro-Cuban music. Compositions are bold, and original: the rollicking ‘Buscaré’ weaves violin, cajón, bass guitar and soaring choral vocals alongside Valdes’ superb fingerwork. ‘Lluvia’, with its poignant strings, feverish male and female voices and clever tempo changes, is another delight. All this, plus flutes, darbuka and a flamenco rumba with bagpipes, heralds an artist with major international potential.