Band formation Ketama formed in
Madrid in the early eighties, taking its name from a well-known valley in Morocco. The initial line-up featured José Soto Sorderita (guitar), Juan Carmona (guitar) and Ray Heredia (vocals). Each of the three came from flamenco dynasties: the Heredias of Madrid, the Habichuelas of
Granada and the Carmonas of
Jerez. Heredia left the band shortly afterwards, and was eventually replaced by Antonio Carmona (lead singer) and José Miguel Carmona (guitar). The trio briefly became a quartet, but this was only for a short time, as José Soto Sorderita would leave Ketama a few records later. The group played salsero pop. However they added to their sound, and without ever leaving flamenco behind they incorporated a number of different musical genres into their music, mainly those arising from black roots, such as
blues, jazz or the African
kora, as well as funk, reggae and Brazilian music. Their first work,
Ketama, was released in 1985, although it was recorded two years earlier. In 1987,
La Pipa de Kif was released. The solo singing was still José Soto's responsibility, but in this record Antonio Carmona started to play a bigger role. It is one of the works by Ketama that drew most acknowledgement and served to launch them at an international level. The record was mentioned in newspapers like The Times and the
International Herald Tribune, and in 1989 it came away with prizes for the best world music albums from prestigious international music magazines like
New Musical Express and
Folk Roots.
1990s "El arte de lo invisible" (1993) leaves fusion temporarily aside and recovers a more traditional sound. Thus, Ketama came to make the live record to which it owes the fame that it attained in Spain.
La Pipa de Kif had a sequel in 1994, "Songhai 2". They earned international recognition with their third record,
Songhai, a fusion of flamenco with
Danny Thompson and
Toumani Diabaté's African kora, which was praised in reviews in The Times and The International Herald Tribune. Nonetheless, their ultimate success was "De akí a Ketama", which was recorded live with the participation, among others, of Antonio Flores and Antonio Vega. It sold over a million copies, it spent a year in the Spanish hit parade, and won the Ondas award for Best Album (1995), Best Spanish Group (1996) and the Premio de la Música in the Best Song category in 1996 with the song "No estamos lokos". In the same year they contributed to the film Alma Gitana with two songs. "De akí a Ketama" (1995) represented a big push in terms of their economy and sales. Numerous artists participated, like El Potito, Chonchi Heredia, Antonio Vega, Antonio Flores and Juañares. After "De akí a Ketama", the band tried to break away from their last record. It was conscious of the fact that it would be difficult to repeat such a big success but, at the same time, it did not want to be repetitive. The end product was "Konfusión" (1997), which achieved some good sales figures as well, without relinquishing their quality or the Ketama imprint. In 1998, the band won the Ondas award for the Best Album again, this time with Konfusión, which sold 300,000 copies. == The band members ==