Before he collaborated with Rosalía, helping her craft the avant-garde songs of her 2018 breakthrough album El Mal Querer, C. Tangana (real name Anton Alvarez) had traversed rap and trap in Spain, with an attitude that was both hardcore and experimental. A former Catholic schoolboy and philosophy major in college, he possessed the intellectual banter that music snobs love, but also a knack for finding the right commercial edge to his hooks.
“I wanted to represent my artistry, a unique perspective that I could offer, so I dived into Spanish music,” Tangana continues. “I allowed my childhood influences to enter the studio. That, mixed with my trips throughout Latin America, is how I came across the songs for El Madrileño.”
The 14-track set journeys across different genres and includes collaborations with Latin titans Eliades Ochoa, Jose Feliciano, Andres Calamaro, Gipsy Kings, Jorge Drexler and Brazilian Toquinho. It also includes the flamenco coloring of the late Pepe Blanco, Niño de Elche, La Húngara, Kiko Veneno, up-and-coming artists Ed Maverick and Omar Apollo and the regional Mexican flavors of Carin León and Adriel Favela.
“There was a very special moment in Cuba when we met Eliades Ochoa; we played and composed with him,” Tangana remembers. “That space became a turning point in which I thought that perhaps everything I was exploring, more rooted music, could include these types of artists in an album that vindicates popular music to become a more collaborative effort.”
There’s also traditional flamenco and Spain aplenty in the arresting, bachata-laced “Tu Me Dejaste de Querer,” featuring Niño de Elche and La Húngara