Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Tenerife folklorist and singer, José Manuel Ramos, presented his latest album "Vuelta al Origen" on Friday night at the Casa-Museo del Timple in Teguise. An album with which he wants to pay tribute to all those players and singers. Women and men from the town where he was born nestled in the northwest of the island of Tenerife, "Punta del Hidalgo". A research work that collects the songs from the late fifties. The musician resorted to the scarce existing phonotheque in which some recordings were collected that, with technological advances, have been recovered. José Manuel includes them in this new work where he also includes some duets, where his voice can be heard united to that of his grandfather, Manuel Ramos, already deceased. Some songs that his mother, Olga Ramos, recorded when she began to sing as a soloist are also collected, where you can appreciate some different records and times than those that are played and sung today.
For the presentation of the album at the Casa-Museo del Timple, José Manuel had four great musicians who, with guitar, bass, timple and accordion, wrapped the voice of José Manuel and that of Idaira Trujillo, a young soloist who is also part of this work. The concert, turned into a one-on-one between singer and soloist, offered the purest of folklore as the elders of Punta del Hidalgo played and sang it. Folías, malagueñas and isas could be heard, to which they also added some instrumental pieces such as the polka and the mazurka, among others.
José Manuel Ramos, a man with a great musical background, was born into a family of folklorists such as his great-uncle, Sebastián Ramos, his grandfather Manuel and his mother Olga. From all of them he has inherited a very valuable legacy that he continues to champion today so that it is not lost over time. When the moment of farewell arrived, José Manuel invited Fefo García, another of the greats of Canarian folklore, to accompany him with some folías that would put the finishing touch to the presentation of the album "Vuelta al Origen", which will go on sale in June.
