Sabicas discography — please help

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Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

Sabicas discography — please help

There are some tasks that never end, because as soon as you finish it's time to start again. Painting the Forth Bridge is a famous example.

I've been trying to compile a discography of Sabicas for nearly 30 years (on and off, I hasten to add). He himself told me he'd made fifty-odd albums (which presumably doesn't include compilations). I've got up to about 30.

Now there is SoundUnwound, the user-editable music database. I've dumped most of the information I have on to it.

I'd like to invite anyone here who feels so inclined to add whatever information they can.

A word of warning: there's one Sabicas album that exists under six different titles. They are:

1) The Art of the Guitar (the original, 1976)
2) Flamenco On Fire
3) Studio 102 Essentials
4) Flamenco
5) Fiesta Flamenca Gitana
6) Classical Guitar (!)

On SoundUnwound, all of these are clustered in the entry for Flamenco On Fire.

If anyone needs help with SoundUnwound, I'll post an article I wrote about it for Classical Guitar magazine.

Thanks.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 13 2011 18:14:49

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Sabicas discography — please help (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

quote:

Painting the Forth Bridge is a famous example.

Not any more.

They ran out of money to buy the paint and the painters are on the dole or applying for jobs as greeters at Tesco.

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 13 2011 20:38:28

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Sabicas discography — please help (in reply to Ron.M)

Phew! You alarmed me there for a moment:

“A recent repainting of the bridge commenced with a contract award in 2002, for a schedule of work which was expected to continue until March 2009, but as of August 2010 is still ongoing. This involves the application of 20,000 m2 of paint at an estimated cost of £13M a year. This new coat of paint is expected to have a life of at least 25 years, and perhaps as long as 40, thus removing the need for constant repainting. The work involves blasting all previous layers of paint off the bridge for the first time in its history, allowing for repairs to be made to the steel. In 2008 the estimated cost was increased to £180M, and projections for finishing the job to 2012.”

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 13 2011 23:13:43

Ricardo

Posts: 14861
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Sabicas discography — please help (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

Some of those reissue compilations for CD (like the series that says epoca 1939-40) are mastered from records with skips!

Anyway, hopefully you can load some more mp3's from the vinyl because it would be interesting to hear how much of all those records were not just rehashed falsetas. Would be great to have a definative list in order by date, with mp3's to hear the evolution.

My favorite from the list is Queen of the Gypsies, but maybe because that was the first sabicas I had ever heard. The guitar solos were very short on there but very strong and to the point, especially the solea. The floor they used to record her feet was very boomy and gives a huge intense sound. The "rondeña" I believe to be a mislabel as he accompanies her singing and dancing por Taranto, in the key of Minera. I can't believe no one has yet remastered that classic to CD.

Ricardo

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CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 14 2011 6:48:37

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Sabicas discography — please help (in reply to Ricardo)

The MP3s are from Amazon. that’s the commercial justification for SoundUnwound—they hope to sell mp3s.

Yes, Sabicas did reuse some falsetas (and so did Lucía, for that matter. How many times did you hear that A Minor bulería falseta?

But when you consider his total output, the variety is still amazing. My favourite is The Fantastic Guitars of Sabicas and Escudero, which was the first one I heard.

Those “1930–40” albums are distinctly suspicious. One of them is a reissue of Sabicas Volume 2, from 1958; and I have my doubts about the others.

As to remastering the classics, Decca basically don’t seem to give a toss. I was amazed when Fantastic Guitars came out on MP3.

The other problem with Decca records is that there are no dates on them (and no published discography that I can find).

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 14 2011 16:04:20