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Not the best sound, but man, he is ripping it a new one.
Check out the end runs at 2:50 Sounds like Paco in his prime. Maybe even a bit faster. Ear bending..
I dont understand what he's doing career wise. I see him on you tube playing live and even recently, he's playing the same Serranito stuff he's been playing forever. I wish he would start writing and do a real record. He has the technique to do anything he wants.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
OMG he's faster than Kema!
He has always had the Paco speed...the tone is kind of brittle to my ear, not the mic here, but always...I sense he has round nails or maybe just too long or something. He always had a very stong aggressive sound, those bends and things too, I don't know but for me he could work on putting some finesse into his playing by now. Other players with half his ability achieving better tone IMO. But kudos for him keeping the traditional rep alive.
The singer pictured on the wall in the back of the first clip is one of my favorites...I wonder what is the event they are performing for?
Posts: 219
Joined: Jun. 22 2012
From: Seattle, USA
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to Ricardo)
On YouTube it says "La Garbanzada Flamenca 2013 de la Asociación de Arte Flamenco de Badajoz". Which sounds about right with that large picture of Porrina dominating the stage.
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
He has always had the Paco speed.
I have always said that he is one of the few that can reach his speeds.... Guy is technically incredible... I slowed it down one notch with VLC (0.90x) and I 'm able to keep up with him on that last run without struggling to my surprise which is still pretty damn fast.. I guess I'm happy with that. Problem is when I put it back to normal speed... Not quite there.. .. There is still hope for me!
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
Hahaha, Toddsy man, you may be right but are you questioning what I said about slowing it down one level in vlc? There is no going back at this point. If you're doubtful I can upload it at 0.90x of the normal speed man.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
He's always had that kind of smooth, rounded sound, hasn't he--since he was 15 years old or something. Not my favorite sound for flamenco, but yeah, he can play.
You know, classical guitar fans "throw up in their mouths a little", as the young people say, when they see Leyenda or Recuerdos on the program, but the guitarists still play those pieces all the time. Perhaps the flamenco audience has reached this kind of critical mass where the "oldies" are what must be played. Half of the radio is classic rock from the 70s and before. I work at a casino and here are some of the acts that have come through this year: ZZ Top, Toto, Yes, Tesla.
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
Javier plays what people like and what showcases his ability as a guitarist. Nobody else in the world can do this at his level and he knows it. People want to hear great music and see amazing skill. Javier can provide that in spades.
Why does he need to compose? Don't you think he would play his compositions if he liked them? I don't know how he composes but he obviously feels interpreting the classics expresses him best at the moment.
Not everyone is born a composer. You can work at it and acquire better technique, expand your language, but you will never have that thing that moves people. You have to be born with it.
Would you listen to mediocre music just because it's original? Or would you rather go listen to some of the very best compositions played live by one of the top guitarists in the world?
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
It's true, there are no born composers. But some people have talent and others don't. Do you think Mozart composed all that beautiful music as a child because he worked on it more? No, he always heard music in his head. He just learned to put it on paper.
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
Just because he has the technique to do anything he wants doesn't mean he can compose. I agree with Grisha -- you have to be born with it to some extent, and if Javier is still playing "classics" at this point at his career, it's probably because he is being objective (in his view, anyway -- how could we know) and doesn't think his compositions are worth putting out there. We are all dealt different cards and it's just a matter of playing them right. :)
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
You dont have to be born to compose, but you do have to want to compose. I understand that.
I dont expect him to write a La Barrosa or something. I was just thinking he could at least write some simple rumba stuff with some blazing runs. I would buy it, and i would gladly pay to see him do it live. There are'nt any guitarists out there doing rumba improv that have the physical tools Javier has.
Posts: 310
Joined: Jul. 16 2015
From: De camino a Sevilla
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
so Symphony number 25 compares to 39, 40 or 41?
i don't think so
my point is everyone has to work at their craft, no one is "born with it"
again, if Conde enjoyed writing he would be working at it until he was satisfied with the results and then put it out there. for all we know he may be doing just that...working hard at writing
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
I looove Mozart! I also think that he worked very hard to write like that. Of course he did. But he was a genius before he composed a single note. It's like a sportsman with great genetics versus an average guy who trains just as hard. There is a difference.
I guess, for musician that difference is in the ability to tell a story. It has to move you in some way. By analogy, you can paint very well, but creating a great, original, meaningful composition is very hard. You can be an excellent writer with great vocabulary, but writing a truly profound story is something else. Paco had great stories to tell in the most beautiful way, that's why I listen to him all my life. But there aren't many that have that effect on me, even if they are great guitarists.
Posts: 3497
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
You know, classical guitar fans "throw up in their mouths a little", as the young people say, when they see Leyenda or Recuerdos on the program, but the guitarists still play those pieces all the time. Perhaps the flamenco audience has reached this kind of critical mass where the "oldies" are what must be played.
I would reply to those classical guitar "fans," mentioned by Miguel above, that they should first differentiate between "classics" and "oldies," and second, that there is no reason why classic compositions cannot exist and be played along with more contemporary compositions. Classics by definition are oldies, but not all oldies are classics. Would these "fans" reject Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, et. al. because they are "oldies"? Of course not. Then why would they reject classic guitar pieces such as Leyenda or Recuerdos?
I suspect what the "fans" who "throw up in their mouths a little" really represent is a certain segment who look with contempt upon any classic that has gained a popular audience. I have come across this type in the worlds of music, literature, and art. They affect a faux critical superiority in taste and look down upon the contemptible tastes of the great unwashed. In doing so, they elevate themselves, in their own minds, to a higher plane than others.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to ToddK)
All healthy born people carry potential on a handful of fields, among them musicality.
It´s majorly the course of life that determines whether and in how far talents will be encouraged and developed or not.
And one of the essentials, I think, is confidence in discovering a somewhat pleasing as well as original creation.
In these times and future anyone of discographic knowledge will find it pretty challenging to come up with sommething demanding as well as original, whilst vast of compository fields have just been grazed already.
So, many of todays pop, rock, folk composers retain the optimism for writing through lack of discographic overview, not realizing that they only altered a few notes (usually to the worse) of foregone compositions; or they don´t care about either musicality or originality or both, just like their (mostly pop / schlager) audience won´t.
And then there are those whose optimism of trying might be rewarded with something musically pleasing and yet enough original. Often however with only one piece, seldomly several. (Around which compository siblings are being added for an album and maybe a number of further following non-sellers.)
Even if been lucky enough to have had his musical / improvising talent unfold and entertained throughout his childhood and youth: After the galactic musical eruption of the sixties / seventies, being inspired to new stuff is quite a challenge to the demanding composer.
Trying over and over again / working hard on it might be more promissing than counting with the famous incursion out of the blue from a now so crowded sky.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Javier Conde ripping up Entres (in reply to BarkellWH)
Bill, there is more to it than that, though. I am no snob, but I do not want to hear the warhorses either. Maybe one or two. Classical music, like any art, needs new compositions of merit to be heard and established, or else it's nothing more than a living museum, musty and sadly nostalgic. That is why, yes, many object to the compulsive programming of Mozart. As someone said, "It may have been better had Mozart not lived"--because, despite how beautiful his music is, its very renown serves to suppress new creative works. There probably won't even be anymore concerts after this generation.
I guess I will weigh in on the other topic. I don't see any need to call on players to perform their own stuff in concert. Most likely, he would be already be doing so if he had anything. I rarely write, myself; but a close buddy of mine writes a lot and only wants to perform his own stuff. He even quit a successful band because they didn't want to play any of his songs. Anytime he sees a guitarist, he'll say "yeah, but he isn't good at improvising, it's all worked out."
That being said, I do think any of us can learn to compose. It starts with being sensitive to what we like about music, and taking apart and stealing all the bits and moves we really love. Then mixing it up with our own experience and putting it back together again. Thereby making something that pleases us. As to whether other people like it, who knows? One could be the next poet of the guitar--or perhaps only the next Edgar Guest!
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