Southern Europe
The sound of Spain
Flamenco is the deep root and it is far stranger and more rhythmically severe than the tourist version suggests. The pop and rock built on top of it inherited the severity more than the guitars.
592 artists in the catalog.
What Spain does that nowhere else does
Genres far more common here than across the rest of the catalog. The multiplier is how much more common, weighted by how many artists carry it.
Five records to start with
Not a canon — a way in. Each one links to what it is, who it's for and where to go next.
Spanish artists worth walking into
Ordered by how much we can tell you, not just by how well-known they are.
Enrique Iglesias
Latin pop · pop music
Where to start →Julio Iglesias
French pop · Italo disco
Where to start →Rocío Dúrcal
ballade · bolero
Where to start →Plácido Domingo
opera
Where to start →Joaquín Turina
opera · sardana
Where to start →Mägo de Oz
folk metal
Where to start →Alejandro Sanz
Latin pop
Where to start →Jordi Savall
Baroque music · classical music
Where to start →La Oreja de Van Gogh
folk rock · pop music
Where to start →José Luis Perales
Latin ballad · Latin pop
Where to start →Joan Manuel Serrat
nova cançó · trova
Where to start →Camilo Sesto
Latin ballad · pop music
Where to start →