The musical mother tongue of the 34-year-old Antonio Lizana is nuevo flamenco. But the Andalusian would not have been able to establish himself as a globally acclaimed creative force and star of the new interpretation of flamenco if he had only followed his artistic mentors. The name of flautist and saxophonist Jorge Pardo - once part of Paco de Lucia's sextet - is mentioned, as is that of jazz pianist Chano Dominguez, when Lizana names his "creative parents".
Not to mention the singer Camarón de la Isla, who was blessed with an almost supernatural voice. On the other side of the Atlantic, it was the greats of improvisational music, Charlie Parker and the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane, who had a lasting influence on him.
For the past three albums, Antonio Lizana, as saxophonist, singer, composer and bandleader, has been condensing what he sees as the natural interlocking perspectives of jazz and nuevo flamenco into a deep, soulful statement. His new album "Una Realidad Diferente" (Another Reality) is Antonio Lizana in its essence: passionate, progressive and profoundly free and modern. At the same time, the man from the Spanish port city of Cádiz, which is surrounded by the sea, bundles his music almost exclusively in song form for the first time. And he impressively proves that the future of orthodox musical forms can only be shaped by those who have studied and understood their tradition.
"Una Realidad Diferente" - Antonio Lizana chose the title of his new album with care. And with the desire to describe his music as accurately as possible, as he explains. "On the one hand, the title of the record expresses my musical vision as an originally traditional flamenco enthusiast. On the other hand, it also describes my departure from the often conservative approach to flamenco. I try to preserve the essence of flamenco, its dramaturgy, and revive it in a different context. In addition, my lyrics are influenced by today, which distinguishes my music from traditional flamenco. Classical flamenco still tells stories that were relevant 100 years ago. I want to sing about the realities that concern us today."
For the curly-haired man with the boyish charm and a disarmingly open manner of speaking, this definitely includes his form of revivalist poetry. The different reality that his new album tells of is characterized more by pointing out what all people have in common than by the divisive force that he encounters in the everyday antagonism of the present. The fact that he articulates his thoughts in his lyrics less lecturing and more compassionately makes them all the more sympathetic. In general, Antonio Lizana is not someone who claims the truth for himself and makes a big fuss about himself. The fact that he prefers to go on stage barefoot may seem quirky. The 1.80 meter tall southern Spaniard, who is used to walking across the warm earth of his homeland without shoes, simply needs to feel at home on stage without shoes. But that is only an insignificant side issue. What is important to him above all is the music.
The creation of "Un Realidad Diferente" required a relatively high level of production effort for the first time in Antonio Lizana's career. Whereas until the last album it was mainly flamenco-jazz compositions in which his voice was arranged here and there like an instrument, this time clear song structures dominate, giving Antonio's vocals the space they deserve. However, in extremely free spaces. In these, he encourages his band to engage in almost transcendental dialogs. Lizana and his musicians use jazz rock with its constantly changing meters as a rhythmic foundation for long stretches. "Mora" sprints from Andalusia over to the Orient, picking up on percussion native to the region, before the warm-coloured, Spanish-Oriental body of sound opens up to an undefined place of free music.
"Me Cambiaron Los Tiempos", a plea for constant self-reflection and the courage to allow change, feels like a link to Lizana's earlier albums in its broad instrumental design. When he stands in front of the vocal microphone, he comes up with bloodcurdling, soulful sounds that are reminiscent of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in their urgency. The synth solo that emerges from his voice leads the dramatic events as a short interlude to a swinging saxophone monologue that announces a breathtakingly fast crescendo in a seguiriya flamenco rhythm. The title track "Una Realidad Diferente" follows the same pulse pattern - albeit at half the speed. Lizana was inspired by traditional flamenco for the melody line.
Michael League from Snarky Puppy paired Lizana with the American jazz chanteuse Becca Stevens, who shares the microphone with Antonio in the folk-inspired flamenco piece "Carry Me" and provides subtle vocal contrasts. While the nine new tracks on "Una Realidad Diferente" occasionally veer towards progressive flamenco, taken together they primarily filter Antonio Lizana's own musical mother tongue, which he has long since found. He is absolutely aware of his origins, which is precisely why he is constantly finding new points of contact with which Lizana creates powerful, cliché-free motifs full of beauty. Full of different, different beauty: "Una Realidad Diferente".
Not to mention the singer Camarón de la Isla, who was blessed with an almost supernatural voice. On the other side of the Atlantic, it was the greats of improvisational music, Charlie Parker and the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane, who had a lasting influence on him.
For the past three albums, Antonio Lizana, as saxophonist, singer, composer and bandleader, has been condensing what he sees as the natural interlocking perspectives of jazz and nuevo flamenco into a deep, soulful statement. His new album "Una Realidad Diferente" (Another Reality) is Antonio Lizana in its essence: passionate, progressive and profoundly free and modern. At the same time, the man from the Spanish port city of Cádiz, which is surrounded by the sea, bundles his music almost exclusively in song form for the first time. And he impressively proves that the future of orthodox musical forms can only be shaped by those who have studied and understood their tradition.
"Una Realidad Diferente" - Antonio Lizana chose the title of his new album with care. And with the desire to describe his music as accurately as possible, as he explains. "On the one hand, the title of the record expresses my musical vision as an originally traditional flamenco enthusiast. On the other hand, it also describes my departure from the often conservative approach to flamenco. I try to preserve the essence of flamenco, its dramaturgy, and revive it in a different context. In addition, my lyrics are influenced by today, which distinguishes my music from traditional flamenco. Classical flamenco still tells stories that were relevant 100 years ago. I want to sing about the realities that concern us today."
For the curly-haired man with the boyish charm and a disarmingly open manner of speaking, this definitely includes his form of revivalist poetry. The different reality that his new album tells of is characterized more by pointing out what all people have in common than by the divisive force that he encounters in the everyday antagonism of the present. The fact that he articulates his thoughts in his lyrics less lecturing and more compassionately makes them all the more sympathetic. In general, Antonio Lizana is not someone who claims the truth for himself and makes a big fuss about himself. The fact that he prefers to go on stage barefoot may seem quirky. The 1.80 meter tall southern Spaniard, who is used to walking across the warm earth of his homeland without shoes, simply needs to feel at home on stage without shoes. But that is only an insignificant side issue. What is important to him above all is the music.
The creation of "Un Realidad Diferente" required a relatively high level of production effort for the first time in Antonio Lizana's career. Whereas until the last album it was mainly flamenco-jazz compositions in which his voice was arranged here and there like an instrument, this time clear song structures dominate, giving Antonio's vocals the space they deserve. However, in extremely free spaces. In these, he encourages his band to engage in almost transcendental dialogs. Lizana and his musicians use jazz rock with its constantly changing meters as a rhythmic foundation for long stretches. "Mora" sprints from Andalusia over to the Orient, picking up on percussion native to the region, before the warm-coloured, Spanish-Oriental body of sound opens up to an undefined place of free music.
"Me Cambiaron Los Tiempos", a plea for constant self-reflection and the courage to allow change, feels like a link to Lizana's earlier albums in its broad instrumental design. When he stands in front of the vocal microphone, he comes up with bloodcurdling, soulful sounds that are reminiscent of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in their urgency. The synth solo that emerges from his voice leads the dramatic events as a short interlude to a swinging saxophone monologue that announces a breathtakingly fast crescendo in a seguiriya flamenco rhythm. The title track "Una Realidad Diferente" follows the same pulse pattern - albeit at half the speed. Lizana was inspired by traditional flamenco for the melody line.
Michael League from Snarky Puppy paired Lizana with the American jazz chanteuse Becca Stevens, who shares the microphone with Antonio in the folk-inspired flamenco piece "Carry Me" and provides subtle vocal contrasts. While the nine new tracks on "Una Realidad Diferente" occasionally veer towards progressive flamenco, taken together they primarily filter Antonio Lizana's own musical mother tongue, which he has long since found. He is absolutely aware of his origins, which is precisely why he is constantly finding new points of contact with which Lizana creates powerful, cliché-free motifs full of beauty. Full of different, different beauty: "Una Realidad Diferente".
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Till Faust
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Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main
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