While on holiday in Madrid I asked one of my Spanish friends for a recommendation of some Spanish music, as I didn’t at the time have much of it in my collection. One of the groups he suggested was Ketama, a modern flamenco group, and I quickly fell in love with this CD. De Aki a Ketama is the title though I’ve been unable to find out exactly what it means… “de” means “of”, “a” can mean “to”, while “aqui” means “here”… but “Aki”? I’m stumped, maybe it’s a colloquial spelling. Whatever it means, it’s a brilliant album. Ketama is the name of the group, if you hadn't already noticed.

Defining them as a flamenco band may put images of women stomping their feet and thunderous synchronised clapping, but that’s not what Ketama are like at all (well, maybe some synchronised clapping). The style is somewhat a cross between samba, jazz, salsa, and the what might be considered traditional flamenco (with the stomping and clapping). It’s a style that combines some great instrumentals (particularly guitar) with flowing, incessant rhythms and meaningful lyrics. (Wikipedia describes it as a “Fusion Flamenco” or “New Flamenco” album - it really developed from flamenco and incorporated elements from many different genres, including jazz – which is very much in evidence in this album – and even classical music.)

Since it’s in Spanish I don’t understand all of it, and can only sing along to bits that I’ve memorised the words to from the lyrics printed on the cover inlay, but even if you don’t know a word of Spanish you’ll enjoy the songs. I can only catch the odd word here and there if just listening, so having the lyrics printed out on the inlay is a good thing.

Most of the songs are up-tempo and energetic, and I can guarantee that they will lift my mood and make me feel more lively whenever I listen to them. (Having downloaded them to my phone now helps my workday pass much more quickly!) There are some slower ones though and the lyrics of these are almost poetry. Here’s an example:

Azul
Lineas en el mar
Que profundo y sin domar
Acarcia una verdad
Y tu
No lo pienses mas
Op te largas de una vez
O no vuelves nunca hacia atras

Attempt at English translation:

Blue
Lines in the sea
Deep and untameable
Caressing a truth
And you
You do not think more
That the length of one time
Or you will never come back



Even the faster song aren’t lyrically challenged:

No estamos locos
que sabemos lo que queremos
vida la vida
egual que se fren un sueno, pero
que nunca termino / que sepia te con el tiempo
y buscare
o ye pero buscare

This is my less than perfect English translation

We are not crazy
but we know what we want
live life
as if it were a dream
we’ll never stop
we’ll go with the time
and we’re looking
we’re still looking

The vocals, mainly provided by Antonio Carmona, have a husky quality to them but don’t lack depth of feeling. On most tracks there are both male and female backing singers too. This album represented their acceptance as a successful mainstream band as opposed to purely being popular in the flamenco field, and it’s easy to see why. The tunes are catchy and don’t get boring on repeated playings. There is plenty of variety in the different tracks and they each have a completely unique flavour, while the track order is well chosen to break up the faster and slower songs, also interspersed with some purely insturmental pieces. Many of the tracks are live recordings which adds a lot of atmosphere to them. (I’m pretty sure the main singer from the Gypsy Kings guests on the last track, but I couldn’t find this on the information on the inlay so maybe there are actually two people in the world who sound like him!)

Overall, if you like Latin jazz, Salsa, Merengue, Samba, Flamenco, or just lively, great music in general I would highly recommend De Aki a Ketama to you. This style of music has an amazing natural energy that really affects your mood and attitude, besides which it sounds great. What more do you need?!?

De Aki a Ketama was released in 1995 and sold over 600,000 copies.



Full Track List

The English titles are my best attempt to translate so may not be entirely accurate.
1. No estamos lokos (We Are No Crazy)
2. Verdadero (Truthful / Real)
3. Se dejaba llevar por ti (You Let It Take You)
4. Loko (Crazy)
5. Flor de lis (Lily Flower)
6. La cuesta la cava (Digging the Cave)
7. Acaba de nacer (Completing the Birth)
8. Djamana Djana (?!??!)
9. Problema (Problem)
10. Vengo de Borrachera (I come from Borrachera)
11. Vente Pá Madrid (Going to Mardid)
12. Bulería del Olivar (Avenue of the Olive grove)
If anyone can correct any of the above please leave a comment and I’ll edit!


De Aki a Ketama is available new for $15.98 from Amazon.com and from $5.58 on the Marketplace. The UK site don’t currently list it as available. I got mine from Madrid Airport… which probably isn’t somewhere you’d go particularly to buy a music CD!!!

If you don't mind songs you don't understand, you might also want to give The Best of Mariam Makeba and Anthology a try.


De Aki a was Number 3 in my all-time Top Ten Pop/Rock Albums.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: At Work