Toti Soler Toti Soler

Like a long drag of hashish in the morning when the alarm clock rings in the open air, the synthesis that works in this album is aromatic, hypnotic, luminescent somewhere between Hispalis and the Catalan Mediterranean. Spanish guitar and flamenco metonymies flourish on this transitional instrumental work that ablutions in flamenco waters, scented with folk-blues salts. This 1973 album is seminal in creating flamenco fusion. The arid but magnetic notes of the first track on the album, 'Sardana Flamenca' delve deeper into the subconscious, which Soler recorded on his own with his Spanish guitar, except the electric pieces where members of the band OM helped out. Reissued on vinyl for the first time. Includes an insert with notes and a rare Toti Soler photo. Toti Soler's self-titled second album together with Sabicas, Smash from 1971-72 and the recording Paco de Luca made with jazzman Pedro Iturralde, were seminal in creating flamenco fusion, a blend that has travelled far. They altered the perception of said music redefining its limits and possibilities. Soler's syncretism between Hispalis and the Catalan Mediterranean, another form of fusion, was released perhaps paradoxically by Edigsa, the label that the guitarist worked with the most, the founding spirit of which was to safeguard the local language, Catalan.