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ORIGINAL: RobJe

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“Sabicas plays too many notes. All that showoff stuff is not really flamenco.”

It is interesting that one of the greatest singers Antonio Chacón (1869-1929) was accompanied by Ramón Montoya and then briefly by a very young Sabicas. Both guitarists were accused of using “too many notes”. I remember in my younger days seeing singers really angry about having their flow interrupted by excessive use of falsetas by young guitarists. Usually this was expressed by angry glances or desperate appeals to heaven, but placing a hand over the strings was more a successful strategy!

Montoya is credited with (blamed for?) “inventing” the solo flamenco guitar, probably because he put together all the annoying falsetas he had gleaned from other players and recorded them as a series of solos in 1936 in Paris. To be fair he is also credited with introducing some techniques that are now regarded as standard. Guitarists who came to live and work in London after WW2 usually brought a set of Montoya 78s as their most valuable resource for learning.

No matter how much we express our likes and dislikes in this thread it won’t make much difference. Things change. If forced down off the fence I would say that I like guitarists who have “paid their dues” by immersing themselves in the flamenco that has the strongest links to the past. If these guitarists move onto other stuff I listen and often enjoy. Paco and Tomatito fit into this category.

Rob

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When I was in High School, at different times I was lucky enough to have heard Sabicas, Carlos Montoya
and also for Classical guitar saw Segovia, this was at the old, (since torn down) Russ Auditorium in San Diego, CA. I feel very privileged to have heard all three of these artists live.