Recording for José Antonio Aarnoutse’s flamenco album

Last August, I had the pleasure of participating in the recording of a track for the new album by Jose Antonio Aarnoutse, a flamenco guitarist from Cartagena.

I was thrilled to be part of this project, as I clearly remember the first time I heard Jose play. I was very young when I was lucky enough to hear him perform with his group at the time, La Banda del Pepo, during La Mar de Músicas, a festival held in Cartagena every summer. Moreover, last year he gave me flamenco lessons as part of my research. That’s why I immediately said yes when he asked me to record a cello part for one of his tracks.

For this track, in addition to himself on guitar, Jose Antonio brought together Eugenio Fernández (producer), José Antonio Chacón (vocals), Alejandro Solano (percussion), Javier Valero (violin and viola), Josue Ronkío (bass), and me on the cello.

I had recorded in a studio a few times before, but this was a completely new experience for me. In the past, I had always recorded with all the instruments playing together at the same time. However, this time was different. I could hear Jose’s guitar and Javi’s violin through the headphones, and I played along with their parts. Additionally, we recorded in sections. For example, if the first section was 20 bars, Jose and Eugenio (the producer) would play me the recording of the guitar and violin a couple of times so I could listen, and then we would record. We did several takes and chose the one we liked the most afterwards.

It was a very enriching experience. Being used to classical music, I found it fascinating to see how new ideas emerged from the composer and the producer as we recorded, with things being improvised rather than fully written out beforehand.

I understood the whole recording process well and didn’t find it difficult to record the different sections, even those that weren’t written out. However, I do remember the final chords of the piece as being particularly challenging. I had to play several chords right after a guitar solo, and the cello’s entrance wasn’t entirely intuitive. I’m sure that fragment took quite a few takes for all of us, along with plenty of laughs!