album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Ranchera / bolero / flamenco / Latin jazz / Afro-Cuban. El Último Trago ('The Last Sip') is a studio album by Spanish singer Concha Buika (born María Concepción Balboa Buika, Palma de Mallorca, 11 May 1972) and Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, released in 2009 by Warner Music Spain (catalogue 2564686147). It was produced by guitarist Javier Limón, Buika's longtime creative partner since the breakthrough album Mi Niña Lola (2006). Concha Buika was born in Palma de Mallorca to parents who emigrated from Equatorial Guinea as political exiles; she grew up as part of the only Black family in a predominantly Roma (Gypsy) neighbourhood, absorbing flamenco as naturally as air while simultaneously drawing on African folk traditions, jazz and soul from her mother. Her voice — powerful, dark, hoarse and velvety — has been compared to Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, Cesaria Évora and Chavela Vargas herself. The album is a tribute to Chavela Vargas (born Isabel Vargas Lizano, San Joaquín de Flores, Costa Rica, 1919 – 2012), the legendary Costa Rican-Mexican ranchera singer whose passionate, whisky-drenched voice and distinctive performing style made her an icon of Mexican popular music and a figure of cult devotion across the Spanish-speaking world and beyond. El Último Trago was recorded in Cuba at the beginning of 2009 to celebrate Vargas's 90th birthday, in eleven hours of studio sessions. Chucho Valdés — born in Quivicán, Cuba, 1941, founder of the jazz-fusion band Irakere, one of the central figures of Afro-Cuban jazz — plays piano and is responsible for the arrangements. The twelve tracks are drawn from the repertoire most associated with Vargas, including songs by José Alfredo Jiménez, Agustín Lara and Armando Tejada Gómez: 'Soledad', 'Sombras', 'Las Ciudades', 'Cruz de Olvido', 'El Andariego', 'En el Último Trago', 'Se Me Hizo Fácil', 'Un Mundo Raro', 'Las Simples Cosas', 'Somos', 'Luz de Luna' and 'Vámonos'. The album features a liner note by director Pedro Almodóvar, who had worked extensively with Vargas and made a glowing evaluation of Buika's interpretations. Other musicians include Lázaro Rivero Alarcón (double bass), Juan Carlos Rijas Castro (drums), Yaroldy Abreu Robles (percussion) and Carlos Sarduy (trumpet).
Label: Warner Music Spain / Warner, 2009. Catalogue: 2564686147.
Producer: Javier Limón. Piano and arrangements: Chucho Valdés.
Recording studio: Recorded in Cuba, early 2009.
Critical reception: El Último Trago was received as a landmark meeting of two exceptional artists. AllMusic's Michael G. Nastos stated: 'It's unlikely you'll find a better pairing of an amazing singer and accompanist anywhere else, no matter the music type, but if you enjoy the classic Latin song performed with every ounce of emotion available, this recording will be impossible to resist.' The Un Planeta de Sonidos review noted that 'it is astonishing how naturally she approaches the repertoire popularised by Chavela Vargas and how she makes it her own.' Pedro Almodóvar's liner note placed Buika's performance alongside the greatest interpreters of Vargas's material.
Commercial success: El Último Trago won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Album in 2010 — Chucho Valdés's seventh Latin Grammy, Buika's first. The album was certified gold in Colombia (2010). Buika received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Recording of the Year for the same album. The album inaugurated an extended international tour that began in summer 2010. In 2011, Pedro Almodóvar used two Buika songs — 'Por el amor de amar' and 'Se me hizo fácil' — in his film La piel que habito, with Buika also appearing onscreen.
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