La Casa de los Sordera

In 2009 we played host to the Moneos. This time around, we are presenting another flamenco dynasty, the Sordera family, which boasts some of the most important exponents of 'cante jondo'. The Moneos are all part of a 'Flamencos' dynasty containing such notable names as the singers Paco la Luz and El Niño Gloria, and the dancers Juana and Fernanda Antúnez. They worked in the wake of the 'antiflamenquismo del 1898', a movement of Spanish intellectuals that regarded flamenco as a caricature of tourist Spain and as a type of music associated with drunkenness, musty bars and immorality. The Sorderas were the first to resist this disdain on the part of the Spanish intelligentsia and they continue to campaign passionately in defence of authentic flamenco. The family produced Manuel Soto 'El Sordera', contemporary of the generation of 1927, patriarch and distinguished link in this flamenco dynasty, and simply one of the most important artists in the history of flamenco. 'Orthodoxia y Vanguardia' is a musical journey from the most primitive cantes up to avant-garde flamenco. Vicente and Enrique Soto perform the traditional or 'primitive' cantes, including the harsher variants with such styles as 'martinetes', 'soleas', 'seguiriyas' and 'tarantos'. In the avant-garde section, we hear 'alegrias', 'rumbas' and 'tangos' in a modern setting by José Soto 'Sorderita'.