Ketama is a Spanish musical group in the

new flamenco New flamenco (or ''nuevo flamenco'') or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion (with genres like jazz, blues, roc ...

tradition. Fusing

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

with other musical forms (

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

Brazilian music The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, American, African and Amerindian forms. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

), they created a style that lies somewhere between flamenco and pop

. Their music drew as much criticism as praise because purists did not like the change from traditional flamenco, but the group won over the young public. They continued to fuse other music in, and their 2002 album, ''Dame la Mano'', added hip hop and

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

History

Band formation

Ketama formed in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in the early eighties, taking its name from a well-known valley in Morocco. The initial line-up featured José Soto Sorderita (guitar), Juan Carmona (guitar) and Ray Heredia (vocals). Each of the three came from flamenco dynasties: the Heredias of Madrid, the Habichuelas of

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

and the Carmonas of

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

. Heredia left the band shortly afterwards, and was eventually replaced by Antonio Carmona (lead singer) and José Miguel Carmona (guitar). The trio briefly became a quartet, but this was only for a short time, as José Soto Sorderita would leave Ketama a few records later. The group played salsero pop. However they added to their sound, and without ever leaving flamenco behind they incorporated a number of different musical genres into their music, mainly those arising from black roots, such as

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, jazz or the African kora, as well as funk, reggae and Brazilian music. Their first work, ''Ketama'', was released in 1985, although it was recorded two years earlier. In 1987, ''La Pipa de Kif'' was released. The solo singing was still José Soto's responsibility, but in this record Antonio Carmona started to play a bigger role. It is one of the works by Ketama that drew most acknowledgement and served to launch them at an international level. The record was mentioned in newspapers like The Times and the

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

, and in 1989 it came away with prizes for the best world music albums from prestigious international music magazines like ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' and ''

Folk Roots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...

''.

1990s

"El arte de lo invisible" (1993) leaves fusion temporarily aside and recovers a more traditional sound. Thus, Ketama came to make the live record to which it owes the fame that it attained in Spain. ''La Pipa de Kif'' had a sequel in 1994, "Songhai 2". They earned international recognition with their third record, ''Songhai'', a fusion of flamenco with

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...

and Toumani Diabate's African kora, which was praised in reviews in The Times and The International Herald Tribune. Nonetheless, their ultimate success was "De akí a Ketama", which was recorded live with the participation, among others, of Antonio Flores and Antonio Vega. It sold over a million copies, it spent a year in the Spanish hit parade, and won the Ondas award for Best Album (1995), Best Spanish Group (1996) and the Premio de la Música in the Best Song category in 1996 with the song "No estamos lokos". In the same year they contributed to the film Alma Gitana with two songs. "De akí a Ketama" (1995) represented a big push in terms of their economy and sales. Numerous artists participated, like El Potito, Chonchi Heredia, Antonio Vega, Antonio Flores and Juañares. After "De akí a Ketama", the band tried to break away from their last record. It was conscious of the fact that it would be difficult to repeat such a big success but, at the same time, it did not want to be repetitive. The end product was "Konfusión" (1997), which achieved some good sales figures as well, without relinquishing their quality or the Ketama imprint. In 1998, the band won the Ondas award for the Best Album again, this time with Konfusión, which sold 300,000 copies.

The band members

Initial line-up was: *Ray Heredia - vocals *José Soto - guitar. Also known as "Sorderita" *Juan Carmona - guitar. Also known as "El Camborio" Heredia left the band shortly afterwards, and was eventually replaced by Antonio Carmona as lead singer. and José Miguel Carmona joined as guitarist. The trio thus briefly became a quartet, but only for a short while as José Soto Sorderita eventually left. The members finally settled at the trio: *

Antonio Carmona Antonio Carmona Amaya (born 21 May 1965) is a Spanish gypsy singer of flamenco. He also has French nationality. From the early 1980s, he was a member of the Spanish flamenco-fusion group Ketama.

Their sound

Violins, an electric guitar, bass, piano, trumpet, trombone and sax can he heard playing alongside Ketama -which was still a quartet- in "Y es ke me han kambiao los tiempos" (1990). The time has come for the rumba and salsa, both of which are flamencoised in this record. In these early records, it is already possible to appreciate a review of the legacy of their respective families, although they are still distant from the audacious developments that were to come, not long afterwards. In 1988, "Songhai" was released on the market, and its name was that of the court of the Mandinga empire (Sudan). Here, flamenco was blended with African music, Toumani Diabate's kora to be specific, alongside which African choruses, the guitar playing and voices of Ketama and

's folk-jazz double bass could be heard. The version of "Vente pa' Madrid" following the rhythm of the kora is indispensable. "Toma Ketama" arrived in 1999, following a compilation record that collected the best themes that they released between 1990 and 1997. "Toma Ketama" sounds more like a flamenco record than "Konfusión", although this does not mean that different influences like pop -which in reality had always been present-, blues or Latin rhythms are absent. In 2002, Ketama went a step further and blended flamenco with rap, hip-hop and house music in "Dame la mano". This was the last release before their break-up began. Their farewell was accompanied by "20 pa' Ketama" (2004): twenty songs for their followers. With a selection of their best songs and few other new releases and surprises, the band put an end to their twenty-year professional and musical career.

Cinema

In 1995, the band was responsible for the original soundtrack of the film "El efecto mariposa" (The butterfly effect), a Spanish film directed by Fernando Colomo. Their music was also heard in the film "Alma gitana", directed by Chus Gutiérrez and whose protagonist was Amara Carmona. Ketama also contributed to the AIDS benefit compilation album '' Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon'' (1998) produced by the

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

with "Dukeles".

Discography

Albums

* Ketama (Nuevos Medios, 1985) * La pipa de Kif (Nuevos Medios, 1987) * Songhai (with Toumani Diabate and

) (Nuevos Medios, 1988) * Y es ke me han kambiao los tiempos (Universal, 1990) * Karma (recopilatorio) (Nuevos medios, 1990) * Canciones hondas (recopilatorio) (Nuevos medios, 1992) * Pa´ gente con Alma (Polygram, 1992) * El Arte de lo invisible (Universal, 1993) * Songhai 2 (with Toumani Diabate and

) (Nuevos medios, 1994) * De akí a Ketama (Universal, 1995) * Konfusión (Universal, 1997) * Sabor Ketama (Mercury Records, 1998) * Toma Ketama! (Universal, 1999) * Dame la mano (Universal, 2002) * Nuevos Medios Colección (Nuevos medios, 2002) * 20 pa' Ketama (Universal, 2004) * De aki a Ketama Deluxe (Universal, 2019)

References

Portrait in Todomusica in Spanish language

Portrait in Flamenco-World in Spanish language
{{Authority control Flamenco groups Rumba flamenca New flamenco Latin pop music groups