They are thirty years old on average, have proven skills, and a huge desire to make music. They call themselves DawnThey have recorded a first album entitled Seeds and this Friday they will present it at the Malandar Room of Sevilla. ExpoFlamenco He wanted to talk to his guitarist, Martín Pruna, about the origin of this soft drinkcante project, its current state and its future plans.
“You could say our headquarters are in San Julián, in the Corrales del Pelícano. In fact, we rehearse in the same place where the rocker Silvio used to,” he says. In pre-pandemic times they started as a quartet, with Martín himself, Santiago Alonso To the bass, Tito López to the percussion and the marchena player Vicente Trinidad“Related in a direct line to El Lebrijano,” he said. Then Naranjita de Triana, granddaughter of the legendary Naranjito, joined in, until finally she took the microphone Bethlehem of the Kings, known for having participated in the show Purasangre by Israel Fernández.
The training was completed with Carlos Delgado, violist of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville (ROSS), and a dance troupe made up of Petete y Emilio Castaneda to the beat and palmas...not forgetting the support and complicity of veterans like the guitarist and three Raúl Rodríguez or the saxophonist Gautama del Campo.
“From the beginning, our idea was to do flamenco "combined with the electric bass and the viola," explains Pruna, for whom the most overused labels –new flamencoFlamenco, flamenco fusion… – these terms don't quite capture the essence of Arborea. “We would stick with the name flamenco author's, who coined Daniel Bonilla"Because we work on a very solid flamenco foundation, without treading on strange ground."
Indeed, a glance at Alborea's repertoire reveals palos easily recognizable as guajiras inspired by Marchena, a farruca, a toná, a soleá, alegrías from Cádiz… “We also have some slightly more extravagant bulerías, but the foundations, structures and harmonic patterns are one hundred percent flamencos. There may be a refrain that is reminiscent of Ketama At some point, the classic sound of the violin or the electric bass, but there are no more colorings or preservatives.”
However, Alborea lives the flamenco naturally, without needing to emphasize its depth. “The true fan will understand that everything we do respects the flamenco “more canonical,” Pruna adds. “What we are trying to do is bring the flamenco "To the ears, I wouldn't say young, but curious. We don't use any electronics; our sounds are live and organic, like wood: that's the backbone of the project."
"The true fan will understand that everything we do respects the flamenco more canonical. What we are trying to do is bring the flamenco "To the ears, I wouldn't say young, but curious. We don't use any electronics; our sounds are live and organic, like wood: that's the backbone of the project."
Nor are they losing sleep over reaching the masses. “It’s not deliberately popular music, it’s not intended for the crowds. But people who, for us, are great personalities of flamenco, like our friend Lela Soto, Joselito Acedo o Rycardo Moreno They've given us wonderful feedback. That's worth the equivalent of all the fans to us. Bad Bunny".
Regarding the group's name, they emphasize the detail that it does not contain any accent marks, so it does not refer to the palo Known as Alboreá, “although we’ve also been called Arboleda,” they joke. “Alboreá, according to the dictionary, is the set of colors that appears with the first light of dawn. We seek that homage to the blending of colors, mixing that range from yellow to blue, those beautiful and diverse colors.”
Respecto a SeedsIt can be said with certainty that it has been a slow-cooked album. “A year and a bit ago, the first thing we recorded was at Pacífico Estudios, in Mairena, with Panini de Jerez, who works with the squareThat's where we recorded the farruca Little SisterBut a technical friend who worked at Punta Studios Palo"Ma made it easy for us to go there, and we decided to record a whole album."
That's despite the fact that the release of the different tracks has been, as is customary now, "single by single, to cause the greatest possible impact, although musically we don't use any formula to make it a hit. The delay in the album's release is due to the fact that we've thought about everything so much that it's caused this brutal extension, but we finally have it."
Regarding Friday's performance, Pruna asserts that "we're going to be as faithful to the album as our resources allow, bringing its content to the stage with the fewest possible resources. To achieve a certain impact, we'll use some sequences, trying to make the experience as immersive as possible; and at the same time, we have a visual element, the dance, that captures the audience's attention."
And what about the day after Malandar? “We’re going to try to make a second part of the album. We have no financial ambitions, just to contribute something and reach people who can’t imagine the flamenco “As an easily accessible genre that respects its foundations but at the same time wants to give it a twist,” Pruna adds. And she concludes with a smile: “We’ll keep at it as long as time, stress, and anxiety allow.” ♦
