Carmen Linares

Carmen Linares was born Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez in Linares, the most important centre of flamenco singing in the province of Jaén. She grew up in a family where flamenco was played every day - her father was a guitarist - but her career only began to take shape when she joined the flamenco circuit in Madrid. She learnt a great deal there, studying almost every possible style and emerging as the greatest and most complete flamenco singer of our time. In 'Remembranzas' Carmen Linares recalls her happiest memories and sings them 'far beyond' flamenco towards new horizons. She invites the audience into her own flamenco world, full of poetry and deeply felt song. She translates her love for modern classic Spanish poets like Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Hernández and of course Federico García Lorca, into new Flamenco songs. But she also breathes new life into Spanish folk poetry. Every conceivable human emotion is concentrated into her voice, as are echoes of the great masters of the old flamenco songs, by whom she was surrounded from an early age. Her expressive interpretations are underpinned by the pulsating guitars of Eduardo Pacheco and Pedro Barragán and by the handclapping of Ana María González and Rosario Amador.