G-5 - Tucaratupapi (2006)

Many countries have musical supergroups that break out from time to time (in England and America, for instance, there have been Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Traveling Wilburys, and more recently, Deltron 3030 and The Good, the Bad and the Queen), and Spain is no exception. Comprised of modern legends Kiko Veneno and Tomasito, who helped to define the new sound of flamenco, as well as younger stars like Muchachito or Marcos "Canijo" Del Ojo and Diego "Raton" Pozo from Los Delinquentes, in 2006 G-5 released their debut, Tucaratupapi, a low-key, familial affair, with acoustic and flamenco guitars coupled with various percussion instruments and sweetly harmonized vocals. The songs themselves, sung in a kind of street-level Spanish, begin more as informal jam sessions that then seem to spontaneously turn themselves into pieces; this does mean that there's a lot of musical repetition, or at least imitation, between tracks, but it also means that there's a vivacity and realness that is conveyed in its organicism. Elements of funk, blues, jazz and pop are combined with the artists' flamenco inclinations, from the gentle arpeggio of "La Fiebre" to the summery riffs of "Dia de Promoción" to the fast gypsy beat of "La Oreja Baila Sola," and are interspersed with bits of conversation and random strumming between the bandmembers. It all works very well, it's lighthearted and fun and deeply rooted in Andalusian tradition but still something that, despite its fusion of various genres, sounds very familiar and welcoming. No, this is not groundbreaking stuff: Tucaratupapi is simple, catchy pop, and it will appeal more to those fans than to flamenco connoisseurs, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered a serious musical endeavor, because it is. G-5 are five notable, talented individuals who make the fact that they enjoy performing and playing together more apparent than anything else, and that alone is worth listening to.