This some find. Originally recorded on a vintage Grundig TK36 tape recorder in the years 1959 and 1960, unearthed from the vaults of the estate of the iconic flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia (1947 - 2014), these 21 songs are both mesmerising curiosities and testament to talent both god-given and obsessively nurtured.

Way before Paco de Lucia took the flamenco world by storm, then ventured into classical music and jazz-fusion; decades before he’d become Spain’s greatest musical export, he was one of four brothers apprenticed in an artform developed in the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia. He and his singer brother Pepe, who later became a mainstay of Paco’s sextet, were coached by their paterfamilias, Antonio Sanchez, a strict taskmaster whose standards, almost impossibly high, were – on the strength of this discovery – at the very least striven for.

Respectively aged 13 and 11, Paco and Pepe laid down this mix of palos/categories (bulerias, fandangos, rumbas) before their first official material as a duo called Los Chiquitos de Algeciras in 1961. Behind Pepe’s anguished pre-teen vocalising is Paco’s already remarkable mastery of guitar techniques (‘Zapateado Niño Ricardo’ and ‘ Soleá Niño Ricardo’ is just him, soloing). While the life experience that would infuse Paco’s oeuvre (and Pepe’s voice) with emotion and colour is to come, there’s a preternatural vibe, an otherworldly authenticity, to these siblings that make Pepe y Paquito worth a deep dive.