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Posts: 2006
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
Rafael Riqueni
He came to San Francisco for the first time last Saturday night and I was able to see him play in a room with maybe forty people. He is not the technical powerhouse he was in his prime but I made a short video and on listening to it back, he played very very well. He actually sounded cleaner on the vid than in the room. He played his famous fandango, and a really nice rondena, an alegrias, and solea.
His compositions were on point, and he is often surprising in the way his falsetas are composed, and the way he develops his solos. He is a very good composer of falsetas-very musical. It's clear he listens to a lot of music other than flamenco.
Another great checked off the list. I've always admired his work. It was cool to see a legend in person. While waiting, he walked right by me, gave me a little smile, and put his hand on my shoulder. He was personable, and humble, as many great artists are. I expected to see all the old guitarists from the bay area there, but only Kenny Parker showed up. We had a nice chat, as Kenny is always engaging. He offered solid advice to a newer student as to what to listen to and study, and hopefully the guy will take it. The folks who promoted the show did a nice job, in that they offered food and drink for an hour before the gig. I also got to chat with a dancer I played for 20 years ago. A nice evening. We have a some people in the bay area who love flamenco and bring great artists here. It's a blessing.
I've always admired his work. It was cool to see a legend in person.
Me too. I have loved his music for years, have all his recordings etc. etc. and finally got to see him play for the first time in London last summer at the Sadlers Wells flamenco festival from the second row of the (relatively) intimate smaller Lilian Bayliss studio (as opposed to the main theatre).
A nice evening. We have a some people in the bay area who love flamenco and bring great artists here. It's a blessing
Sounds like you had a great evening. The city I live in never brings in artists of that calibre. It used to occasionally happen with the bigger headline acts like Paco Peña and Paco de Lucía, but that’s about it.
a lot of concerts/gigs Rafael doing this year , today im going to see him , its an awfull day full of rain and wind , london style. hope he doesnt get some artritis crisis or something like that , hope hes in best shape possible
It’s pleasant in london for sure, but these past few weeks have been miserable. But this time next week I’ll be in cordoba, and then Madrid the week after.
you can see hes fragile , looks like 82 not 62 , few words , altough a genuine smile from a person that you can see had suffer a lot. you can also see that his relation with the guitar its just perfect , was made for that. he gave all with the guitar , and its a lot. beautifull music from Riqueni , i would like to see him again of course.
Sometimes it's hard to watch. Do you know what happened to him?
He went to jail after domestic violence due to substance abuse. That is the official public info.
I have anecdotal info which is grain of salt.
His son died tragically and this affected the guy horribly, mental health mainly. He went on benders of drug and alcohol abuse. At some point he disappeared and finally his friends found him isolated in his apartment alone, scribbling stacks and stacks of music (he was a rare flamenco that learned to read and write standard music notation). But he was wearing a powdered wig and thought that he was Mozart! . He might have been committed to a drug rehab or mental health facility after that, not sure. Much later the domestic abuse scandal came out and obviously going to jail is a forced detox of whatever substances. A lot of people can't survive that physically, hence his advanced aging is understandable. After some time they were releasing him from jail to do concerts after which he would return to prison, until time served.
So even if the bulk of that is exaggerated, the bottom line is he had mental health issues that he might still be dealing with, but at least is enjoying concertizing now. A similar sad tale surrounds Niño Miguel, and probably other maestros we never hear about.
in the 2000s the "culto" (evangelic church of Filadelfia in Spain), started taken en mass members of the Gitano community, targeting those with substance abuse issues. The idea being "forget about Flamenco life style, sing for God and give up the drugs and alcohol etc.". We aficionados had a fear that this type of thing might consume the entire artistic genre. However, many artists found a way to do both the spiritual thing and the professional flamenco thing at the same time. It is just that in order to pull people out of the drug world, it seemed necessary to cut off the source, which was the music culture of Flamenco. My personal feeling is that this is replacing one bad habit with another, and those in the cults such as Scientology prey upon people that have substance abuse issues and mental heath issues related to that. But at least the physical dependance is fixed (lesser of two evils?). and of course these "churches" get to divert the drug money to their own cause.
i think thats incorrect, his son (rafael) is alive and was living with him (some years ago , now i dont know)
On the year of 1997 his father comited suicide and after that his mother got an AVC or somekind of health issue , all of this toked riqueni to severe depression. In this period he had several expenses , the normal ones and the several reahab ones , and thats another **** show with some of his family members acused each others for bad managment of his financials. So Paco Bech , come to help him being his friend and manager.
The jail time was about he didnt paid taxes or/and didnt declared his taxes , since he wasnt "here" and didnt care about nothing. Spanish (and american) Tax departement are no joke.... thats why nobody agreed with his "arrest" and call it unfair , he was mentaly ill during that time. Other version was about an agression , but i think the 12 months in jail (he only slept there , he was out during the day and it was for minor things) were about the tax issue and no agression. Or maybe both i dont know , he got 14 months because he had allready some issues reported in the past .
Hard do say if he was allready bipolar and schizo , or if the depression and the substances got him close to that mental issues. Normally the substances are the trigger.
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. He might have been committed to a drug rehab or mental health facility after that, not sure. Much later the domestic abuse scandal came out and obviously going to jail is a forced detox of whatever substances. A lot of people can't survive that physically, hence his advanced aging is understandable. After some time they were releasing him from jail to do concerts after which he would return to prison, until time served. 
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