Manuel Agujetas - Amaro

Those who have delved into the genealogical roots of the family “De los Santos” know the reason for the leafy nature of that hundred-year-old Jerez tree whose roots also extended to Rota, El Puerto de Santa María or La Línea de la Concepción. And they know that in each of the more than two hundred rings of its old trunk, there is a story to tell about the original repertoire of authentic gypsy singing. The one before it became a commercial genre to sell to the universe.

Manuel de los Santos Bermúdez is one of the last fruits of that tree and comes from a glorious branch that bears the name of “Agujetas de Jerez”, his father. Now, the last man born from the marriage of the brilliant cantaor and Josefa Bermúdez -who had ten offspring of which nine are living-, has just released his first album: a work recorded live, in an intimate meeting held at the Peña Don Antonio Chacón on November 11.

AMARÓ (“Lo nuestro” in Romano) is nothing more than the vision that Manuel (Jerez, 1975) has of part of the repertoire of that great ancestral tree where logically he does not lose sight of the ways of his progenitor, but is based basically and exponentially on the sound heritage -all of it sublime-, from the previous family lines: from his grandfather Agujetas El Viejo, his great-uncle Domingo Rubichi, his great-grandfather Tomás de los Santos “Rubichi El Viejo”. However, Manuel takes other risks and adds chocolaty sounds that fit perfectly with what he says, racial -how could it be otherwise- but overwhelmingly sweet in the right doses.

So do not look in this proposal for a new double of Agujetas (as if that were possible), or a new imitator, or even a film sequel. Also, don't look at AMARÓ for the current cante album produced under the conceptual umbrella of pop, in which clappers and ProTools plugins rule. Get rid of your prejudices and let yourself fall in love with an anarchic but honest cantaor, whose metal voice knows no tuning filters or recordings, because Manuel Agujetas Jr. offers the cante that belongs to him just as it comes out: without folds or more pretensions than to catch lost souls or those wishing to get lost.