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Posts: 1945
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
What pulled you away?
I've met many guitarists over the years who were very active in flamenco, but eventually, drifted away from their local scenes or seriously scaled back their involvement. Guys who used to do the gigs, even some full time pros, who no longer gig, or even play much. We have had threads on what got you into flamenco, but I'm curious about why guys moved away. By contrast, my musician buddies who play more popular styles like rock, blues, Latin jazz, etc. are for the most part still plugging away well into their fifties. What made you lose the faith, or at least step back?
Getting married, moving back from Spain, working 16 hours a day in the current economic climate does not leave much time, energy or inclination; but it's still in there somewhere and when I do pick it up occasionally, it usually only takes a couple of weeks to get on top again.
I haven't had a decent holiday in five years but sometimes you just have to get stuck in.
I used to live and breathe the stuff, hung out with pretty much all flamenco musicians, went to Spain for a workshop, etc. It's hard to say what turned me away from it, but I took a few not-great lessons from a local player and pretty much quit after that. There just wasn't really anyone around here who could help me. Pedro Cortes told me "you're going to have to leave here, you know", when I took a lesson with him. Maybe he was right.
Another issue is that, as a full-time gigging guitarist, I began to feel flamenco wasn't very suitable for that. For background music, bossa is better than bulerias (I remember you telling some stories about things like that). Bossas, Howard Heitmeyer arrangements, classical for weddings,--these are much more useful in my line of work. Add a few rumbas and other arranged flamenco pieces, but not too many and not too scary.
Finally, I realized that probably the main thing that had attracted me to flamenco was the virtuosity. Paco's scales, really. And I kept running into barriers and roadblocks in getting there. As opposed to classical, which requires a different sort of skill and one perhaps not so dependent on max speed and strength. You can spend a lifetime learning and improving in CG and never have to play a 144 bpm picado scale.
As a beginner I am getting into this purely for personal enjoyment; I have no plans to entertain others. And I can see that this music is not to most people's taste. I also have a philosophy of life that is quite gypsy. I will be more than happy if I can enjoy the music on my own and one day accompany singing and dancing aficionados. Hopefully I will last a long time ... Actually I plan to live 200 years, so I plan to be doing this thing for a long time to come!
But an interesting thought is that I wonder if flamenco might become more fashionable as 'world' music becomes more and more fashionable - as it is. One day we might be the flavour of month!?
I left Flamenco in the early l970's having started with it in college in the early sixties. I lived in an area where "flamenco" was more associated with large pink birds than music. It was and is a "flamenco black hole." I played as best I could by listening to a few old LP's of the flamenco luminaries of that day. There was no internet, no teacher, and almost no instructional assistance available. Most of all my nails continued to fail me. By accident I ended up with a banjo and learned to use picks. In my part of the country, this gave me an audience, and I did gain some prominence as a banjo player in bluegrass, jazz, and blues. I still play, but thanks to retirement, this foro, and superglue I am enjoying flamenco as never before. Yes, I left it, but it really never left me. Thanks "Foroflamenco".
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