Fuego Por Dento - The Fire Within

Flamenco singer Anna Murtola's Fuego Por Dentro ("inner fire, fire inside") is the first solo album by a Finnish flamenco singer. The album also renews the flamenco tradition: "As a Finnish flamenco singer, I feel it is important to draw from my own starting points in my music. My roots are in the north, but they have been rooted in flamenco over the years. However, it is not the only type of music that resonates with me and I want to bring it out in my own art as well," says Murtola.
In dialogue with visiting artists
The singer is accompanied on the album by Joonas Widenius, Finland's most famous flamenco guitarist, Hannu Rantanen, a long-time bassist, and Karo Sampela, a percussionist who works with the world's top flamenco artists in Spain. Known as a Nordic reformer of flamenco guitar music, Widenius has also worked on the album as a co-composer, arranger and producer. In addition, Venla Ilona Blom, known from the Ethno-Emma-awarded Tuuletar group, has acted as producer, especially for the vocals.
Murtola has also invited artists from different musical cultures to collaborate, who create a new kind of musical dialogue, for example Sami joiu, Arabic music and tango meeting Murtola's northern flamenco. Guests on the album are violinist Lotta-Maria Pitkänen, master of the joik tradition and Hildá Länsman, known from the award-winning band Solju, Iraqi oud player Ali Haithem, and pianist-composer Timo Alakotila, who is one of the most sought-after musicians on the Finnish folk music scene.
Translation history with the roots of flamenco
The Fuego Por Dentro album includes new music, new arrangements of Spanish flamenco songs and translated songs. The beloved tango "Volver", composed in 1934 by Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Pera, became familiar to many flamenco lovers as the flamenco version by Granada's Estrella Morente from Pedro Almodovar's film of the same name.
On Murtola's album, "Volver" has been translated into Finnish and returned to tango. The earlier Finnish translation of the song was made by Aapo I. Piippo. A new translation of the song with Murtola has been made by Sampsa Peltonen, with whom Murtola has also translated the Arabic folk tune "Foog in nakhal". Now, for the first time, the song turns into a Spanish-language flamenco version on the Finnish Murtola's album: "The roots of flamenco itself extend to many other musical cultures. Arabic music is one of the biggest influences in flamenco, and I've always wanted to dive deeper into it," says Murtola.