Ketama

Madrid's prize-winning Ketama trio, anchored by brothers Antonio Carmona and Juan Miguel Carmona alongside their cousin Juan Carmona, ranks among the foremost acts in the “new flamenco” movement. From the moment their self-titled debut appeared in 1985, the group steered flamenco toward an increasingly cosmopolitan sound. Their 2002 release Dame la Mano even folded hip-hop and house elements into the mix. That cross-genre strategy drew both critics and supporters, yet it succeeded in exposing flamenco to a fresh generation of younger listeners, and the trio’s sustained activity eventually muted most opposition. Beyond their own recordings—where flamenco merges with salsa, Brazilian, reggae, pop, funk, jazz, and hip-hop threads—Ketama joined Malian multi-instrumentalist Toumani Diabate for two projects, Songhai in 1988 and Songhai 2 in 1994. The 2000 album Toma Ketama! brought the band a Latin Grammy nomination in the Best Pop Vocal Album category. They disbanded in 2004.

The three musicians embody the fourth generation of a lineage that reaches back to guitarist Ico Habichuela. Their name evokes the poultry yard where they once rehearsed, and for a time they served as the resident ensemble at Canestra Tabiao, nightly sharing bills with Paco de Lucia, Enrique Morente, and Camarón De La Isla. After earning acclaim through technical mastery and vocal interplay, they performed alongside Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, and Michel Camilo. Their stature rose further when they opened for Prince and the Rolling Stones; the Carmona brothers also supported Frank Sinatra on several dates.

The Songhai venture, titled after the West African empire overrun by Spanish forces in the sixteenth century, originated with producer Joe Boyd, whose credits include Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, R.E.M., and the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices. The inaugural album, issued in 1988, paired Ketama and Diabate—playing his 21-string kora—with British double bassist Danny Thompson and vocalists Djanka Diabate and Diaw Kouyate. Six years afterward the same core collaborators reconvened for Songhai 2, expanding the ensemble to include founding Ketama vocalist Jose Soto, who had departed for solo work, plus Malian balafonist Kélétigui Diabaté, Malian ngoni player Basekou Kouyate, double bassist Javier Colina of La Barberia del Sur, violinist Bernardo Parrilla from Joaquin Cortes’ troupe, and flamenco-rhumba singer Aurora.

Ketama appeared in Carlos Saura’s film Flamencos. On their 2002 set Dame La Mano the group blended bossa nova, soft fusion, and flamenco.