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After spending several days seeking confirmation on the report of Mario's passing, *and just one hour after actually receiving such confirmation*, I have now received an email from Mario's son saying that his father is fine.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
On another forum I was lambasted for alleged "gossip-mongering", but I don't know how you get something like this confirmed without asking around, and I think it would have been far worse to let Mario pass unnoticed than provoke the (happily) undue concern that resulted. Thank you for the upbeat message Zurdo.
Posts: 1770
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to TANúñez)
well Estella,
i checked around myself here and there, it is impossible to get to know something without asking it first. Escudero is ( as far as I know) sick for a long time, so it is not so strainge to think something is happened to him.
Thanks to check it , so we all know it for sure,Peter.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
quote:
Escudero is ( as far as I know) sick for a long time,
Mario, who was my guitar teacher for several years back in the sixties, has been suffering a degenerative disease for nearly a decade, and lives in Miami. His son assures me his father is happy and cheerful and spends the day chatting and singing although his memory has been severely affected.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
quote:
Which do you prefer, playing, dancing or singing
Simon, I started out playing guitar (blame Sabicas). I was just accompanying small student groups and had a granaína solo I had to play during the costume change...we’re not talking the Royal Albert Hall.
It was actually Mario who broke it to me that women do not play flamenco guitar and I’d best think about cante or baile. Since I was a chubby child, still am , dancing seemed out of the question so I took up cante, which turned out to be my life’s passion. Dancing came along the way after singing for dance groups and classes.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to Escribano)
Anything is possible in Jerez...one way or another my crystal ball is saying lots of F&F ...I'm thinking Fino and Flamenco...is there something else that starts with F?
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to gerundino63)
Peter I'm going on day 12! Wow. Thanks for remembering. Means a lot. It's hard but somehow I'm doing it. I just keep telling myself if I give up I'll have to start all over again.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
Hey Zata r u telling me that you stopped learning the guitar because traditionally women don't play the guitar? I can feel a rash breaking out... I'm sure that must have irritated you at the time.
Do I have to go National Velvet and cut my hair and wear a hat? I have to tell you I am a dog with a bone on this one. Grr!!
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You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
In 2004 it seems outrageous, but in 1964 you didn't ask. And funny thing is, Mario was right...women *don't* play flamenco guitar, at least not accompaniment. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't they we can...it's that they don't.
Nowadays we all take for granted that women sing for dance groups, possibly more so than men. In Spain in the seventies however it was rare. Women sang solo cante or fiesta numbers up front, but only rarely for dance groups and cuadros. I was told men had strong palmas and stomp their feet, and women couldn't compete . As a result, in tablaos I ended up doing a rumba or bulerías thing up front but guys would handle the dance singing. Now that's all changed. Maybe we'll see women accompanists in Spain one day.
All in all I'm grateful to Mario for having steered me to cante, it was the right thing.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
Hello, tee-hee u got me. I'm not shy of being female but prefered the gender thing not to be glaringly obvious on a forum, until I get to know people. Obviously 'the craic' is glaringly Irish, which is where I have been these last 10 years. Do you remember the name of a restaurant up in the hills outside Jerez (i forget) and (after starting early on the beers in Pena la Buleria) one Paco el Melchor i think his name was took us off for an afternoon long-juerga. You sang us a buleria and fergus did us an alegrias. It was fun. See you in March.
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You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
haha no i wasn't on that occasion u were muddling me up for someone else with brown hair.
Hey if you started on guitar and moved to cante and speak English, and my Spanish is abysmal although being worked on, doesn't that mean I should badger you for some sort of remunerated instruction? I am already taking some guitar lessons, but its useful to be able to talk about the whys etc....cringe....cringe....
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You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to El Craic)
Craic, I spoke some Spanish before getting into flamenco. However if you want to learn how to make perfect paella I can teach you. For free. You supply the wine
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to El Craic)
Boo! I am at work so I got the msg straightaway. But I am off to do the payroll in a moment though - isn't that the worst possible torture you could imagine for a Tuesday morning? My career ambition is not to have one...
Re. Paella: You're on! Look forward to it.
Pero soy vegetariana loca
....actually i do fish these days
_____________________________
You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf
Posts: 786
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: San Francisco Bay Area
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
Estela;
I have always encouraged anyone interested in anything to peruse their ambition. I know one of Carlos Montoya’s students – a woman and she plays professionally in Mt. View, California.
By the way my first teacher was Angelica Begilomini (married name - she married an Italian) and I owe her my interest in flamenco guitar. I have had several female students. Perhaps it is the San Francisco area that allows such things. I do not know.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to El Craic)
Tom, there have always been female guitarists in the US...I was one myself in the sixties. In Spain however you won't see women tocaores playing for a dance group. I saw one play once in a dance contest (I believe it was the dancer's sister) playing along with two men, and she was dressed as a man, complete with sombrero cordobes. You had to be very sharp to notice it was a woman.
Aside from dance groups I haven't even seen flamenco soloists or women accompanying singers or themselves. There's a strong cultural/historical bias. There is a historical precedent for women accompanying their own singing, most famously, La Serneta, but that custom has been lost.
I now recall guitarist Eduardo Rebollar mentioned his first teacher was a woman.
On the other hand we've now got a female 'flamenco pianist' (oxymoron?) from Jerez, the Reina Gitana, who is very popular.
Posts: 1770
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to zata)
Hi Zata!
Afew years ago there were 3 girls from spain, with interrail, they came in their holliday to amsterdam. I lived by than in Amsterdam, and saw them a lot performing on the street, Little funny show, one played the guitar, and the three together sang (flamenco). They wewe picked up here by television, and start to become local famous, and start performing in theaters.
The guitarist of the group, got a scolarship for the Amsterdam concervetory, and she is a teacher now the last I heared from them, they made a cd, a while ago and they do not play together anymore.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to El Craic)
Peter, my Dutch is a little rusty ...but I watched and enjoyed the clip, thank you for that.
These girls are doing a Peret-style rumba catalana group, something I haven't seen in years...with all the fusion pretense these days it was great to see some honest flamenco fun. The sevillanas corraleras de Lebrija they do are another very traditional element that is perfectly suitable for an uninitiated audience. All the young flamencos screaming about evolution need to see how classic flamenco, even if it's 'only' rumba, is intrinsically commercial and does not go out of style.
RE: Mario Escudero is fine and well (in reply to Melchor)
Melchor, I can make a fine Tortilla as well, but one thing that escapes me is to make Judías Blancas the way they do in Spain. I've tried a few recipes but it's not the same. I'm talking about the soaked and cooked white beans in a tomato sauce/soup. Fine with fresh crusty pan! Yum! Any idea? (Sorry to turn the subject of Mario Escudero into a recipe exchange forum LOL!)
Printable Version
, dancing seemed out of the question so I took up cante, which turned out to be my life’s passion. Dancing came along the way after singing for dance groups and classes. 
I'm sure that must have irritated you at the time. 
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