France, Manitas De Plata

condition (record/cover): NM / VG (edges wear)

Every May the Gypsies of Europe converge on the Camargue for the pilgrimage of Saint Sara, and it was there, in the sixties, that Manitas de Plata was recorded playing on the steps and in the streets, a self-taught flamenco guitarist who could not read music, never learned to play in time with anyone else and became, briefly, the most famous guitarist in the world, admired by Picasso, Cocteau and Brigitte Bardot. This Vogue LP has the pilgrimage recordings: guitar and voices, José Reyes singing, crowd noise, the church behind.

Purists complained he was not really flamenco, and they were right, which is why the record is interesting; this is what Gypsy music sounded like in France before anyone told it what it should be. The Vogue edition with the photo sleeve. Reyes's relatives went on to form the Gipsy Kings.