Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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PATA NEGRA

Flamenco blues-rock group from Seville, formed around brothers Rafael and Raimundo Amador and named after a local ham. ('Pata negra' means 'black leg', because the end of the leg of ham is black and particularly good; thus the expression means something like 'top of the heap' or 'cream of the crop' in English.)  Albums Guitarras callejeras '78, Los managers '81 and Rock gitano '82 established them as a leading force in flamenco fusion. Blues de la Frontera '88 was widely said to be their best, notable for a heavy dose of the American South as well as two especially catchy tributes to the Spanish south: 'Camarón', named for the doomed flamenco god Camarón de la Isla, and 'Yo me quedo en Sevilla', which also opens the fusion collection The Young Flamencos '90. Drug-related differences between the brothers led to their break-up in 1991; in March '94 they re-formed for one successful night minus Raimundo to play at the Madrid club Aqualung, but Rafael's pre-concert confession that 'everything I like is illegal, immoral and fattening' did not bode well.