Barrio Negro

by Alex HendersonTomatito is one of the leaders of a movement that has been called flamenco nuevo, which combines Spanish flamenco guitar with other Latin forms. For this virtuoso Spanish guitarist/composer, elements of everything from Cuban to Brazilian music are fair game. Flamenco nuevo has been incredibly popular in Spain since the '90s, and one of its biggest sellers was Barrio Negro (which was released in Spain in 1991 and in the U.S. in 1993). This very fresh-sounding and largely instrumental CD shows that while Tomatito (who has major chops as well as plenty of soul) owes a great artistic debt to traditional flamenco, he isn't a traditionalist or a purist himself. Not at all. It is Tomatito's willingness to stretch and broaden flamenco that makes Barrio Negro the exciting album it is.