Pena, Paco – “Arte Y Pasion ” – [Nimbus Records]

Thurston Hunger   9/4/2005   CD, International

Flamenco Flames…Paco Pena and Brothers
Losada set the nylon of their guitars
afire…sometimes w/ those dry crackling
muted runs as kindling. But the presence
of the “painguished” wailed vocals really
fuels the blood flow here. Wavering vox
and the hyperstrum of the guitars
sonically capture the adrenaline that
must be bursting the veins in the legs
of the people dancing here. That’s right
they’ve recorded the percussive steps,
exclamation marks, of the dancers.
Disk one smolders, disk two ignites.
Emotional motion!