Plunge into the heart of true flamenco, one of the oldest musics of Europe. The young cantoara Estrella Morente is its rising star, heiress to one of Spain’s greatest musical dynasties. Her long-awaited debut album was recorded both live in concert and in studios in Cadiz, Madrid and Granada, and produced by her father, the legendary flamenco singer Enrique Morente.

Estrella is accompanied by some of Spain’s finest talents, including the Carmonas and Habichuelas — cousins and uncles who form a veritable roll-call of late 20th century flamenco’s greatest innovators (notably Juan and Pepe Habichuela, and the Carmonas as Ketama, the cutting-edge flamenco-blues-rock group). They are the extended family she grew up with, in Granada’s medieval quarter by the spectacular Moorish Alhambra Palace. Nearby is the Sacromonte hill where several songs were recorded in the natural atmosphere of the caves — traditional hillside homes of the Gypsy population from whose clans Estrella, like centuries of Spain’s best flamenco artists, has emerged.

Alfredo Lago’s crisp, understated guitar gives perfect counterpoint to her gift for effortlessly sculpting deep emotional meaning into song. Many flamenco musicians over time gain a nickname from their peers: Estrella’s family call her the “Nightingale.”

Morente,Estrella

“Some of the best proof that flamenco is still alive and well. She doesn’t pantheonize. She enthralls. At twenty she wears her voice like a clinging vine of cante.” - flamenco-world.com