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i'm pained to see that reggae gets so little attention here.
C'mon, it's one of th main musical phenomena of the decade, and so far there's only one album qualified (of cours, Marley) ?
I'm puzzled 
Henrik, I'm afraid is very difficult to find a photograph with Joni Mitchell, Joey Ramone and Stevie Wonder together!
Flamenco, of course. There are a lot of different traditional (or folk if you want) music styles within the varied national spectrum of Spain. In fact flamenco is strictly the music played by the gypsies, an ethnic minority with few things in common with the vast majority of Spanish people. But, no doubt, flamenco is the music of Spain. Its uniqueness in its purity has amplified its resonance making it easy to identify after a few notes by everyone, even the ones that never listened to it.
But the revolution that came with rock music left the flamenco musicians suddenly out of their own times. During the first half of the 70s decade Paco de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla made the first steps to renew the flamenco language but the one who made the big step was Ricardo Pachón during the second half of the decade. In a hypothetical Spanish Hall of Acclaim Pachón would be the sure number one for the backstage wing. He was visionary enough to know that flamenco renewal would come not from the rock side (mainly practiced by payos or "whiteys") but from the flamenco side, the gypsies. And he was smart (or lucky) enough to rely on the enormous talent of people like Camarón de La Isla, the Amador brothers (first members of Veneno and then Pata Negra) and, of course, Lole y Manuel.
Lole and Manuel were a gipsy couple whose own real marriage exemplified the marriage of tradition and innovation. Lole was daughter of dancer Juan Montoya and singer Antonia La Negra, she was part of the Montoya family, a family with a long flamenco tradition showcased in albums like the excellent Triana (1976). But Manuel came from the prog-rock, being part of Smash, a psychedelic band pioneer in incorporating flamenco in a rock context (you may find interesting songs like El garrotín, 1971). These marriage of prog and flamenco is exemplified in the two first albums of Lole y Manuel, "Nuevo día" ("New Day", 1975) and "Pasaje del agua" ("Passage of Water", 1976), that were immediately loved by the critics and the Spanish public.
The opener for their second album was my favourite song from the couple. Beginning with a children’s choir singing "Y tu mirá se me clava en los ojos como una espá" ("and your glance nails in my eyes like a sword") soon the songs slides into the frantic pace of the bulería for the verses, only accompanied by Manuel’s Spanish guitar and the palmas encontrás (it could be translated by alternating handclaps, one hand-clapper punctuating the first note of a quaver while the other punctuates the second note, the characteristic flamenco rhythm). But then the chorus returns, with Lole repeating it again and again like a mantra joined progressively by a blanket of synthesizers, a children’s choir, a bass guitar and finally drums (with a typically prog-rock arrangement).
And all that delivered with a solemn beauty that did not keep unnoticed to a filmmaker with such a splendid taste in music like Quentin Tarantino. He included ”Tu mirá” in the soundtrack of his ”Kill Bill, Vol 2", probably without knowing that it was about swords and eyes (so in fact it fitted obliquely very well with the script). This inclusion gave a second life to a song that was completely forgotten even in Spain. Well, not completely, I will always remember when I was almost a child at my friend Melchor’s house listening to the albums of his older sister. This song for me will be always be tied to that house, always full of people smoking grass, walking around naked during the summer and living with freedom. I never told my parents the details about that house, I was afraid of being banned to go again.
TU MIRÁ
Composer and performer: LOLE Y MANUEL
First release: 1976 ("Pasaje del agua"album)
Length: 7’41”
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
De amores llora una rosa,
de amores llora una rosa,
y le sirve de pañuelo
una blanca mariposa.
De tanto volar,
sedienta de tanto vuelo,
en un charco de agua clara
la alondra se bebe el cielo, ay, ay.
Para recibir al día,
para recibir al día,
la rosa, niña, se puso
un traje de pedrería.
Lo vi desde mi barquilla,
lo vi desde mi barquilla,
un pez se vistió de plata
por asomarse a la orilla,
por asomarse a la orilla, aaay.
Aquella tarde de Abril
te dije vente conmigo
y no quisiste venir,
y no quisiste venir,
ay, no quisiste venir.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
y mi tren de alegría se va, se va,
y no tengo más sueño que tu mirá.
Y tu mirá
grillo de mis tormentos, rosa tronchá,
cuando sueño tus ojos de madrugá
yo no puedo apartarme de tu mirá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
Y tu mirá
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá,
se me clava en los ojos como una espá.
YOUR GLANCE
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
A rose is crying for love,
a rose is crying for love,
and uses as a handkerchief
a white butterfly.
Because of flying so much,
thirsty because of so much flying,
from a clear water pool
the lark is drinking the sky, oh, oh.
To welcome the day,
to welcome the day,
the rose wore, my child,
a beaded dress.
I saw it from my boat,
I saw it from my boat,
a fish dressed in silver
to lean out of the shore,
to lean out of the shore, ooh.
That April evening
I told you to come with me
and you didn’t want to come,
and you didn’t want to come,
oh, you didn’t want to come.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
and my train of joy goes away and away
and I don’t have more dream than your glance.
And your glance
cricket of my torments, chopped-down rose,
when I dream of your eyes at dawn
I can’t take away your glance.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
And your glance
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword,
nails in my eyes like a sword.
Unfortunately the only available version in Youtube is the edited one that appeared in the compilation “Grandes éxitos” (1984) and in the “Kill Bill Vol. 2 Soundtrack” (2004) as well, 4’00” instead the original 7’45”, lacking two verses and shortening the final crescendo. Believe me, the long version is the good one, check it if you got Spotify or something. You won’t regret it…
Dedicated to Melchor, my childhood friend that became the singer of my band and died in his motorcycle in 1998. I miss you, MRO.
The pain, the pain!
