There's no doubt we're living in strange times when it comes to the music industry. Albums have ceased to be a snapshot of an artist's life, becoming instead what the English-speaking world calls a... Work in progress Infinite. Creators no longer wait to have a dozen compositions before releasing them; instead, they pour them out as they produce them. And the public welcomes this trickle from platforms that have also changed, perhaps forever, the way we listen to music. Perhaps that's why an album like Taking souls, the solo debut of the man from Cádiz Oscar LakeIt seems like a rarity, almost an extravagance.
This guitarist has spent five years, from the pandemic until now, shaping an album that encapsulates his personal vision of playing and his professional experience. A career that began, as he himself half-jokingly says, playing at masses, and which has grown accompanying illustrious countrymen such as David PaloMar o Encarnita Ringas well as established names like Guadiana o Jose Merceand especially to great flamenco dancers like Jesús Carmona, Juan de Juan, La Lupi, Rubén Olmo, Antonio Canales or, more recently, Rocío MolinaInterestingly, he's also incorporated guitars into one of the tracks on the latest album by the acclaimed artist. Rosalia.
Taking souls It's one of those albums made by the sedimentation of fleeting ideas, as Lago himself acknowledges: “Over the years, you come up with things you like, some for dancing but others you do on the sidelines for yourself, and before you know it you have material there, you've been building your own things.” In that process, the musician wanted to collaborate with artists like flamenco singers. Antonio Núñez El Pulga, El Mati, Dani Bonilla y Pepe de Pura, the percussionist of Javier Teruel, the bass players Ismael Alcina y Jose Manuel Posada Popo or the battery of David Leonamong others. Rope agreements are from Jesus LavillaAnd the guitarist appears as a special guest. manouche Antoine Boyer, from Paris.
“‘De almas tomar’ is one of those albums made by the sedimentation of fleeting ideas: “Over the years you come up with things you like, some are for dancing but others you do on the sidelines for yourself, and when you realize it you have material there, you’ve been building your things”
The illustrations are by the painter from Cádiz. Cecilio Chaves, whose famous rooftops serve Lago to recreate a sentimental cartography of his life as a musician, a street map of Cádiz that serves to remind him of his early teachers: Rafael Abujas, El Abujitasthe luthier Rafael López, El Porras, in whose workshop on Santo Cristo street the guitarist spent countless hours, or Andrés Martínez, from whom he continues to learn even today.
As for the repertoire, it opens with the soleá At the edge of fear, which speaks of the tension of the musician before going on stage; the bulería The Marquisate, an evocation of childhood paradise dedicated to his father; another bulería, Polenta, which Pepe de Pura in turn dedicates to his mother; the woman from Granada Carmen is, which is for his grandmother Carmen; the rumba Cambalache Jazz Club 1984/2024, a tribute to the legendary Cadiz jazz club run by Hassan Assad; and three songs: the one that gives the album its title, a song to all mothers "without whom there is no life"; Palace of Memory, born from the wonder of a very inspiring mnemonic formula; and 21 grams, “the figure that is considered the weight of the soul, since it is what the human body loses when it dies.”
With its vintage flavor and expressive boldness, controlled virtuosity and refined sensitivity, Óscar Lago's album has all the elements to compete successfully in today's turbulent market, but he insists they have no such ambitions. He doesn't even plan to tour with it, "because recording an album doesn't make you a concert artist," he asserts, and because fortunately their schedule is full, at least for next year. It can be listened to for free at the platform Bandcampand buy it "by choice," he says. "I made this album out of a need to empty myself of my music and share it, to show it to the world." I prefer to teach what I do this way, rather than through social media.” ♦
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