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Posts: 4
Joined: Feb. 5 2007
From: West Yorkshire, England
Juan Martin el Rey
Is it supposed to be cool or something to diss Juan Martin? Some peopole actually sound proud that they give him a hard time. Give the man some credit - especially if you're British; he speaks excellent English in his methodologies, explanations are good and, as has been mentioned before, takes time to tour outside of London. There are hundreds of electric and acoustic methods but a handful of flamenco and fewer in English. The man deserves an OBE for popularising flamenco in Britain - I for one would still be playing just classical if it wasn't for him. At the end of the day he's playing flamenco for a living; how many of those who criticise can say the same? He might not be the best - I'm not good enough to say but I'd give my right arm to be able to play like him. Er, actually maybe my right foot instead.
A los que solo hablan espanol - lo siento que mi castellano no me permite explicar en sus idioma. Suficiente decir soy aficionado de Juan Martin.
Muy bien Paulw. I also happen to enjoy his method/playing ...dunno what flaws, if any, he might have, the pros ought to enlighten us! Then again I'm new to this, so I'll be the last person to criticize anyone that plays anything :-D
Same old boring discussion: JM wrote a magnificenty method. So he's a good teacher and a magnificent business man. So what. That doesn't make him a number one player. Compare him to an unknown and probably much poorer guitarist like Miguel Ochando ( youtube ! ) and draw your conclusion.
Why is it always english people that feel the need to defend him, and no spanish, and usually people that are new to flamenco. New people in flamenco is cool, but one should wait to judge on JM before one has not heard at least other guitarrists.
When someone would have given me JM's CD 4 years ago, i might have thought he is the best flamenco player in the world. Well...
Yes. Juan is OK for those who want to find their way into flamenco guitar playing (he was also my first station before i switched to Gerhard Graf Martinez, etc.).
Yes. Juan speaks good english. (much better than me )
Yes. Juan is a very good businessman.
Yes. Juan is a funny friendly nice guy.
Yes. For most of people who dont play Flamenco guitar themself, his music is as nice as Paco de Lucias or even better.
But NO. Technically he is not a good flamenco guitarist (comparing to hunderts of other guitarist which i heard during the last years, even semi-pros). This is a fact and not an opinion.
Thanks Flo! I'm flattered I can make someone who gets glass thrown at their head get teary I wasn't so busy at work today so I also had a chance to make a guitar fro Anders in the Luthiery thread
Ha ha.. The show must go on. If you are bored post a new JM thread. We need a new section here on foro flamenco. It should have the name SOAP. There we can post about Juan Martín, Bulerías compás, nails and strings.
I´m not a fan of JM but I totally respect him as a professional flamenco guitarist. Who am I to judge????? Commercial art is like that on all levels and in all artforms. What sells is what is wellknown. Incl. JM and Bay City Rollers. (They were cute. I had my hair cut like one them when I was 14 (sorry no picture))
It's unfortunate but all of his own making. He's a master self publisist. He's often promoted as the greatest living flamenco guitarist yet he's not phased by this, he's happy to be described this way yet any normal person being missrepresented that way, would feel compelled to correct matters. He know's he's not the best yet he thrives on that press.
This is the poster I was trying to upload under Ron's thread. Phew!
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
I personally don't know if Juan is "El Rey", I do know Paco DL is the God (great ilustration & creativity btw)...& yes, some of us have listen to multiple "guitarristas." Niño Josele said it best by saying "Paco is light years away form the rest!" I think the guy who made the thread was as curious as I am, who knows. I do believe however that if one is to criticize anyone, be it their technique,style, "purismo" or "apariencia", we ought be certain that we are, perhaps, as good if not better than the one being criticized. I for one, do not do so as doing so will be a sign of my "naivete" (IMHO!).
Juan is greatly over-promoted but I don't disrespect him for it.
I think his solo books are worthwhile tidbits to pick up on amazon.com for $15 per book
I think he's a good player, but nowhere near the best.
There are so many good players that are not publicized at all. A friend of mine recently visited Barcelona and brought back a CD for me that she bought from a guy who was playing on the street, his name is Anibal Palazolo. Anybody heard of him? I did some research and found a bio on him, found a few details of his education and that he's been to Argentina and some other little stuff but not much else. He has only published the one CD that I now have (and enjoy learning from... his Seguiriyas has quite a few fun falsettas). When he does publish another CD, I won't know about it and even if I did I'd probably never be able to find it.
Juan Martin is just a guy who has established himself in the market and published some books that are somewhat useful, even though there are certainly better method books on the market, and he's a guy who doesn't really need to or care to dispel the publicity he gets.
He has been around a long time, and he has been trying all that time to be famous, unlike many flamenco players. I think if somebody great actually publicized themselves the way Juan does, they would certainly take the spotlight off him, but so far none have.
I do believe however that if one is to criticize anyone, be it their technique,style, "purismo" or "apariencia", we ought be certain that we are, perhaps, as good if not better than the one being criticized. I for one, do not do so as doing so will be a sign of my "naivete" (IMHO!).
Nah, anyone can criticize anyone else. Otherwise you end up with only PDL as the allowed music critic. Anyone can make a critique, but understand doing either a critique or a DEFENSE, reveals more about the CRITIC than the artist discussed.
"I'm beginning to think that the diehard Juan fans listen to nothing else.
It's almost like groupiemania and the Bay City Rollers. " - so you know from somewhere that I'm a die-hard JM fan? - that's news to me that I am. And what's wrong with attaching bits of tartan to your trouser legs?
I am a beginner but if I get to the standard where I get so hung up on technique that I can't enjoy a JM performance I will have lost more than I will have gained. Time then to put away the guitar and take up subbuteo fishing.
donde hay la musica de Juan Martin, no puede haber cosa mala. - Spanish proverb
"I'm beginning to think that the diehard Juan fans listen to nothing else.
It's almost like groupiemania and the Bay City Rollers. " - so you know from somewhere that I'm a die-hard JM fan? - that's news to me that I am. And what's wrong with attaching bits of tartan to your trouser legs?
I am a beginner but if I get to the standard where I get so hung up on technique that I can't enjoy a JM performance I will have lost more than I will have gained. Time then to put away the guitar and take up subbuteo fishing.
donde hay la musica de Juan Martin, no puede haber cosa mala. - Spanish proverb
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I am with Ron, Koella, Deniz and Romerito. 
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