- country:Spain
- style(s):Flamenco, Global Fusion
- label:Wrasse
- artist posted by:Mondo Mundo Agency
Links
POSITIVE VIBRATED MESTIZO MUSIC
WINNER of the 2005 BBC Award for World Music in the category of Europe. The Madrid-based act is known for its mestizo (hybrid) style.
Amparanoia is the musical project of the Spanish Amparo Sanchez, one of the most fascinating female musicians in Spain and abroad. Full of energy, talent and latin vibes, Amparo Sanchez’ musical carreer is still in full development. Her faith was written in the music. Billie Holiday as mentor and driving force, and Manu Chao who on hearing her said ‘As a child you swallowed a microphone, and because of this you have that voice streaming out!’, have pushed her on to shine in her own light.
It was in Granada where Amparo discovered the beating of her heart. At 16 years of age she had her first band, Correcaminos, and was involved on occasions as a singer with other groups. Blues, jazz, rock’n’roll, soul… It was the music of the blacks that gave her the air to breathe. Lee Brillaux of Dr. Feelgood called her ‘the white women with the soul of a black never stop singing’. In 1988 Amparo Sánchez was the best voice from Andalusia.
But Granada did not satisfy her expectations. At the beginning of ‘93 she went to Madrid to cut her first record ‘Haces Bien’ with Fábrica Magnética. A debut somewhat by accident as she started the recording with one band and ended with another. An anecdote that took her on to perform for a while in Casablanca (Morocco) and to move around the country, and likewise give direction to another group: The Gang.
1995 marked a new paragraph in the life of Amparo. Like an off road vehicle moving around, armed with a guitar and her incredible voice, she dives in Madrids ‘barrio’ Malasaña. Amparo performing a repertoire going from the Blues to reggae, ‘ranchera’ (traditional Mexican songs) and rock. The response was exciting. ”For a year we performed every weekend in two places, with a minimum of four spots, our own songs and versions. It was an experience that I had always wanted to live, just like the Billie Holiday that I loved”, remembers Amparo. Together with ‘La Vacazul’ she started a parallel group renamed as the Amparanos del Blues with whom she travelled around a part of Spain and even opened a pathway into France. Morocco, especially Essaouira, Granada, Madrid and Marseille became the basis for sustenance and inspiration for Amparo.
Manu Chao and Radio Bemba had also set up in Malasaña. The rock in Malasaña and the multi-racialism of Lavapiés brought about an infinity of sessions and parties with musicians, people and bands in the making. Amparo: “It was in this time that several things happened. On one hand Manu and his band Radio Bemba settled in the area. We became friends, we made music, meals and sessions, and from Malasaña (San Andrés) to Lavapiés (El Tío Vinagre) we had some unforgettable times. It was in Tío Vinagre where I was serving beers. The music there grabbed us, the best, and on many days we finished up having a session with guitars, congas, bongos and whatever else turned up, they were a decisive part in the influences and the birth of AMPARANOIA”.
“My paranoia is music and the idea was to mix rhythms and styles, taking enjoyment from the rumba to the ‘ranchera’, or the bolero and the ska, songs and emotions from that time. I talked about this to Robert Johnson, Piluka, Luisito and to Alfonso, and in December ‘96 we were recording our first demo in Granada. With this we managed to play in bars (El Tesoro and El Tio Vinagre), in clubs (La Boca del Lobo), we met Quique Ruiz `El Bochinche´, our manager for 4 years, and signed a record and publishing contract. In April ‘97 we started to record `El Poder de Machín´, it came out in June and that summer was when Manu Chao gathered his people together from Galicia, Barcelona and Madrid and set off in a bus to Lyon (France), to perform a `Galiza Tropical´-night with friends from Caravane des Quartiers. Off we went as AMPARANOIA and there many relationships were started, for example we met Muñeco, who joined us to replace Luisito on the congas, Dani Carbonell, who was giving rise to Macaco, Joan Garriga, who did his own thing with Dusminguet,… Many bonds were created, good friends were made, many groups, children, books and many dreams were born”.
From there AMPARANOIA rose like foam. It is not easy, better said it is a challenge to go up onto the stage, 8 months pregnant, and dance and give as she gave. Festivals like Espárrago Rock, Festimad with‘El Antojito´, Womad, Bam, Caravana de Culturas, A Feira Das Mentiras, Midem, Garorock,… and a long list of concerts spread over Spain and part of France, went on to give shape to a band that, in spite of the instability of the make up, was continuing along the road to turn itself into the key piece in the Rock Mestizo in the world. And Amparo into a charismatic star.
The year ‘98 was the ‘Feria Furiosa’ and the birth of the second son for Amparo. In October ‘98 they started to record it. More Cuban influences, more punk and with all the friends coming around at the studio: Manu Chao, Fermín Muguruza, Iñigo and Jabier Muguruza, Tonino Carotone, Mucho Muchacho, Dani `Mono Loco´, Juanlu `Ojos de Brujo´, Fermín `Huajolote´ Goñi, Gambit, Las Panteras (Nadine and Monique) and Kaki Arkarazo in the sound. A record luxury…
The ‘Feria Furiosa’-tour ended in November ‘99 at the ‘Caracol’ in Madrid with Fermín Muguruza invited as a guest artist, and with a surprising review from ‘Nicaragua Sandinista’ by Kortatu. It also meant a break for the Amparanoïa-project. Piluca and Robert Johnson went with Tonino Carotone, Muñeco with Ojos de Brujo and Amparo went to Cuba. There together with José Alberto Varona, the trumpet player who had been working with the band for some time, they prepared an acoustic repertoire for a slowly re-start of the band.
At the end of 2000, Amparo travelled to Mexico and met the photographer Yuriria Pantoja. Her appreciation of reality was turned upside down on coming into contact with the life of the Indigenous Zapatista Communities, and the power of the word of Deputy Commander Marcos. On her return she organised the SoundsystemLaRealidad together with Wagner Pâ (Brazuca Matraca), Beto Bedoya (Macaco), Joan Garriga (Dusminguet), Eldys Isak alias ‘Muñeco´ (Ojos de Brujo), and Tomás, Antonio and Shankirta (Undrop). The mini-tour shocked Madrid, Valladolid and Barcelona and additionally Soundsystem, contributed an amazing exhibition of photographs by Yuriria Pantoja. The revenue raised went in its entirety to the Zapatista Communities. Amparo started to develop the idea of ‘Somos Viento’ (We are the Wind), her next record, from the bottom of her heart.
Together with José Alberto on the trumpet, Vesco Kountchev on the viola, Frank Padilla on drums and percussion, Carmen Niño on the bass and Muñeco on the piano and arrangements, ‘Somos Viento’ was recorded at the end of 2001 in the Gárate Studios (Gipuzkoa). It meant again a new step in the carreer of Amparo. For the first time, the band toured in a wide range of countries like Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Mexico,… ‘Somos Viento’ was the statement of a band that grew out to one of the most known and wanted bands of the whole southerneuropean ‘mestizo’-scene. The reactions on the tour were great and Amparo played together with artists like Therapy!, Le Peuple de l’Herbe, Herbaliser,… The ‘Somos Viento’-tour ended in November 2002 during the Aguascalientes-Festival, a concert organised by Amparo, Manu Chao and Fermin Muguruza to put the attention on the problems of the Zapatista Communities in Mexico.
At the end of 2002, Amparo and Muñeco got back in the mountains of Guadalix de la Sierra to prepare their new album ‘Enchilao’. The sound of this album is orientated to the South-American and Cuban latin and son sound. On the one hand, ‘Enchilao’ presents a more electronic based band, on the other hand Amparanoïa stays the same fiestastyle band in a real Mano Negra-tradition. ‘Enchilao’ is mastered by Tim Young (see Massive Attack,…) and was released in May 2003. ‘Enchilao’ marked again a new step in the evolution of the Amparanoïa-project. Again, the band went for the first time discovering never-played-countries like Germany. The band toured for some weeks throughout venues in Köln, Bremen or Hamburg and was one of the highlights during the Popkomm-festival in August 2003. In the fall of 2003, Amparanoïa is invited to do a showcase at the prestigious Womex-festival in Sevilla.
2003 meant also the break-out of Amparo as a respected international artist. She played together with artists and bands like Zuco103 and Calexico, who invited her to collaborate on their new record. On the other hand, the neverending search for a new and fascinating sound combinating roots music with electronical influences went on. In August 2003 the ‘Amparanoïa Son Machin’ was created to present the Amparanoïa-project in other European countries. The full Amparanoïa Band went on playing on different important festivals like Couleur Café, Mundial, Transes Cévenoles, Espárrago,…
2003 proved that Amparanoïa is a project that still didn’t reach his end, on the contrary, Amparo Sanchez stays one of the most fascinating artists of the whole Spanish mestizo-scene.
For 2004, Amparanoia is preparing a new tour to countries like Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia,...
In February 2004 the band will release a duet-single with Calexico doing the Enchilao-song ‘Don’t leave me Now’.