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Yes - I thought it was fairly appalling. Though he claims to be a family friend, as far as I remember Don wasn't Paco's biggest fan and fails to give any real insight into Paco as an artist or man.
He spends a great deal of the book yearning for the days of 'real' flamenco - when he would spend many a happy hour enjoying himself, pressed up close against other drunken sweaty Americano gentlemen in a dark Peña, listening to Diego de Gastor play for hours using only his thumb.
It's a slim volume crammed with the most inept music criticism you can imagine. He also labours the point that much of Paco's work isn't real flamenco. In fact, he spends much of the book labouring a very punchable point about how Paco's music should be described as "FLAMJAZZ" or "FLAMFUSE (FLAMFUSION). As if this isn't annoying enough, he then goes onto to use the term himself repeatedly - as if trying to enter his phrase into popular consciousness - as he reviews each of Paco's albums. It made me want to attack Pohren with his own book.
Its one saving grace is that, as far as I know, FLAMFUSE didnt catch on amongst music critics and no one has ever used the phrase FLAMJAZZ again. Apart from me right now. Which I hate myself for.
I think Don wrote the book to capitalise on Paco's name rather than anything else.
Really Paco's work deserves a lot more effort, intelligence and insight than Pohren can offer.
So it's just as well that Paco Sevilla wrote a much more worthy book on Paco that is well worth a read: "Paco De Lucia: A New Tradition for the Flamenco Guitar". Now if you can get a copy, in contrast, it's really very good.
If you read Spanish, I recommend Paco de Lucia en vivo by Juan Jose Tellez. He really goes in depth about Paco's life and his different eras and how difficult it can be to be judged so harshly by other guitarists. There are many direct quotes from Paco. I find it a great resource.
Yes - I thought it was fairly appalling. Though he claims to be a family friend, as far as I remember Don wasn't Paco's biggest fan and fails to give any real insight into Paco as an artist or man.
He spends a great deal of the book of the book yearning for the days of 'real' flamenco - when he would spend many a happy hour enjoying himself, pressed up close against other drunken sweaty Americano gentlemen in a dark Peña, listening to Diego de Gastor play for hours using only his thumb.
It's a slim volume crammed with the most inept music criticism you can imagine. He also labours the point that much of Paco's work isn't real flamenco. In fact, he spends much of the book labouring a very punchable point about how Paco's music should be described as "FLAMJAZZ" or "FLAMFUSE (FLAMFUSION). As if this isn't annoying enough, he then goes onto to use the term himself repeatedly - as if trying to enter his phrase into popular consciousness - as he reviews each of Paco's albums. It made me want to attack Pohren with his own book.
Its one saving grace is that, as far as I know, FLAMFUSE didnt catch on amongst music critics and no one has ever used the phrase FLAMJAZZ again. Apart from me right now. Which I hate myself for.
I think Don wrote the book to capitalise on Paco's name rather than anything else.
Really Paco's work deserves a lot more effort, intelligence and insight than Pohren can offer.
So it's just as well that Paco Sevilla wrote a much more worthy book on Paco that is well worth a read: "Paco De Lucia: A New Tradition for the Flamenco Guitar". Now if you can get a copy, in contrast, it's really very good.
I concur whole heartedly. Pohren is very opinionated writer. AT the flamefuse section refered to, I literally tossed the book across the room in anger....no joke. Still and saddly those ideas are all too common amongst many flamenco fans though I don't want to blame it on HIM. Threads in this forum are a testament to the issue.
Anyway Paco Sevilla book was much better with the aside story of camaron. I read THAT in a day it was very good reading. As for Pohren's book, the black and white phots where good and plentiful...I tore those out of the book and trashed the rest of the total crap writing.
I don't care for it either and feel that his writing took a turn with that book. It's nice the way it presents the father first and then the rest of the family (I think it was the first time that that information had been published), but I found the "flamfuse" parts to be very disappointing. A big step down from "Lives and Legends," "A Way of Life" and "The Art of Flamenco" (the latter being the weakest, IMO).
He wrote those books before a lot of information became available, so there are mistakes in some years of birth and other details, but it has to be pointed out that he drew on many Spanish-language sources, particularly "Arte y artistas flamencos" by Fernando de Triana and "Mundo y formas" by Mairena and Molina (which mentions him), in addition to artists' interviews and research appearing in the press and magazines.
Thanks everybody. I was not too sure which one to get between Paco Sevilla's and Juan Jose Tellez. But I decided to get the one in Spanish (Paco de Lucia en vivo) because reading is almost the only way I keep my Spanish up. I hope I don't regret it, it is a brick, about 650 pages! a bit more then I wanted.
Both books were pretty much impossible to find. In the end I found them both on www.flamencon.com site which I han never seen before. I hope it is a good place to buy because the site is pretty thin presentation wise and I got no order confirmation. The important thing is that it works, I guess I will find out within a month... Edit: I got a confirmation from Flamenco Connections, ole!
The beautiful thing about the Tellez book is you can read in any order. There are great quotes in this book from Paco, his brothers, Felix Grande, and many others. I doubt other books are this well researched. I think you made a good choice.
Darn, never saw the first one and I clearly missed the Luthier one; and they use PayPal.... and I would have probably received some kind of purchase notification... oh well... It was available from Spain but way to expensive shipping.
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