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I plan to go anyway Though I still haven't decided wheter to choose Gerardo's or the singing accompaniment course. Is there somebody that has experience with the Carrion course? Does he speaks english? Does it cover the most significant palos or just one? Does it builds up from the basics, or should I have experience to take out the most of it?
I'm planning to go and taking my family I think so will be a different experience.
Is this your 1st visit? I'd defo do Gerardos course! to experience it. (him)
Antonios course is cool and casual because its in the hotel los helechos. So if you've over done it the night before and feeling delicate you can still manage to drag yourself to it! (plus its later in the day!)ahah (if you stay at helechos that is)
Antonio gets through a LOT of material which is great. you can record it all. So you have an archive of stuff to draw on when you need it in the future. and its all useable and playable. So if you play for cante or dancers in hungary youll have useable stuff (gerardos stuff may not be as useable depending on your level)
However. I was a little disappointed with it because we didn't really "accompany" any cante. He did. And we listened and played along sometimes, but I personally would've loved one on one times with him or the singers (from the cante course) that would drop in. Its totally possible as the class was only about 8-10 people. and wouldve been much more valuable. The only time anyone played solo for a singer was myself on day 1 as we were all intrducing oursleves. I accompanied him por solea. I assumed he was gonna go round the class and everyone do....but we didnt. haha he clapped me and I got a 'muyyy bien'. i thought...oh i can actually do this. All that study and devotion does work! hahah
Anyway He doesn't speak English. But people in the class can often translate or help if there's stuff you miss.
It looks like G. Nunez doesnt teach cante accompaniment. I've never seen G. Nunez accompanying cante. I guess it's not his thing. Anyhow, this is a rare recording of 17 year old G.Nunez acccompanying Diego Vargas.
It looks like G. Nunez doesnt teach cante accompaniment. I've never seen G. Nunez accompanying cante. I guess it's not his thing. Anyhow, this is a rare recording of 17 year old G.Nunez acccompanying Diego Vargas.
great find. You are plain wrong about the cante though, Gerardo exposed this to us every summer by doing it himself and then making those brave enough do it as well. There is live video of bulerias with Jose Mendez, but his album with Indio Gitano is encyclopedic perfection. His other album with Carmen Linares is not my favorite but another example of his love of cante accompaniment, and further, he toured with her for that album and billed his name in small letters, even though he did some guitar solos to fill up the full concert time. He has a famous photo with Borrico when he was young, and actually introduced Pitingo to the concert stage in USA, long before he made a name for himself. He promoted the career of Jesus Mendez and many others lesser known. He accompanied nano de Jerez on a whim one summer, and also Rafael de Utrera after he got famous thanks to paco, and that concert prompted Rafael to return to the curso as a cante instructor, which he did for several years before getting busy with Vicente. I could go on and on here but the point is you don't have a clue what you are saying.
It is true however that he did not record as a guest (even after being asked) by famous cantores when he could have....but as he admitted in interview during the Carmen Linares tour, he said she had asked him to do like one number years before (along with other guitarists in the mix) and he said he did not like that, as he wanted to develop an entire album of cantes not just pop in for a tangos or whatever. The result of that is he only has those two recordings for singers.