Phil -> RE: The Enigmatic Rafael Del Águila (Sep. 19 2009 11:48:03)
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Henry, I did the interview with El Carbonero. I also took some lessons from Rafael about a year before he died. He was quite an 'eccentric' character. There's one big error in the interview where El Carbonero says that Rafael wasn't a student of Molina's and didn't like him too much. (I'd have to reread the interview for the exact statement.) After the interview was published and El Carbonero read it, he told me that Rafael was in fact a student of Molina's and that he got Rafael confused with another old Jerez guitarrist regarding his relationship with Molina. Apparently, El Carbonero was as nervous being interviewed as I was conducting the interview. Neither one of us had ever been involved in an interview for publication before. From what I can determine, Rafael never recorded anything and, therefore, his legacy lives on only through his students. As far as I know the Moraos were direct students of Molina (Molina died in 1956 well into his 80's) and the Moraos were professionals by then. Parilla, however, was a student of Rafael, along with the other people you mentioned. You have to keep in mind that being a legendary teacher doesn't necessarily translate into being a legendary guitarist. A case in point would be El Carbonero. He's not well known outside of Jerez, yet almost every guitarist in Jerez of note under 40 yrs. old has studied with El Carbonero, including Diego de Morao. Now why would Moraito send his son to learn the guitar from someone else whose not as talented as Moraito? I can think of of a couple of good reasons. Maybe Moraito doesn't have the ability or the patience to teach someone who has never touched a guitar before and this is El Carbonero's forte. He really enjoys teaching kids and watching them progress. Many of his former students are sought after professional guitarists and have far surpassed their teacher in technical ability (although I've personally witnessed a couple of well established guitarists calling upon El Carbonero for advice). This is probably also true of Rafael del Aguila and many other teachers. Getting back to Rafael del Aguila - I'll give you what little info I know about him. He was a barber by trade. I don't know why, but there have been other barbers who were Flamenco guitarists. Maybe it gave them something to do between customers. Rafael obviously had some pretty severe mental problems. He lived in what I would describe as a hovel that was filthy and had newspapers, magazines, and books piled everywhere. He was literate and loved to read. In Andalucia the illiteracy rate for people in his age group was very high. Even today you'll find many people over 60 who are illiterate, especially if they grew up in the campo. And a lot of older Flamencos are illiterate. Anyway, Rafael loved to read. He especially enjoyed westerns and was a big fan of Zane Grey. I've been told that Rafael could read music, but I don't know that for a fact. He used the same method of teaching that El Carbonero still uses today. Students show up and wait their turn to be called in for their lesson. They're taught something, go back out to practice, and the next student is called in. Once they've had a chance to practice what they learned they go back in for some fine tuning or maybe a little more, if they can absorb it. It's a very effective way to learn and is a very efficient use of the teacher's time. I've often wondered if Rafael del Aguila invented this system. A couple of anecdotes - Rafael usually started giving lessons about 7:00 in the evening. One evening I and 4-5 very young teenagers (including Antonio Jero, El Niño Jero's younger brother) were waiting for Rafael to open his door. About 7:30 he finally came out and brusquely said, "I'm not giving lessons to anybody today. I haven't had breakfast yet (mind you, it was 7:30 in the evening) or taken my medicine. So you can all all just go back home. Go on, get out of here. What are you waiting for? I said I'm not giving any lessons, so go home. Come back tomorrow." I was more than a little pissed-off, because I had just spent 30 minutes driving from Rota. However, at my next lesson, which was a week later, he remembered what he had done and apologized to me. Another time I went in for my lesson and he said, "That kid that just walked out wanted me to teach him the compas for Alegrias. I told him to go home and have his sister clap her hands and figure it out for himself. I don't have time for such nonsense. As a matter of fact, if you didn't already know the basics I wouldn't waste my time with you either. Imagine these foreigners coming here wanting to learn Flamenco. Ridiculous!" Again, at my next lesson he apologized explaining that he had been having a bad day. Like I said at the beginning, Rafael del Aguila was a bit 'eccentric'. He was probably suffering from some form of paranoid schizophrenia. At the time I was taking lessons my Spanish wasn't that good and I never asked Rafael any questions about himself. And, to be truthful, I probably wouldn't have thought of asking him even if my Spanish was better, although today I'd love to know more about him. I really appreciate the photos you posted. Where did you find these? These photos must have been taken within a couple of years before his death as this is the Rafael that I remember. I would think (and hope) that the Flamenco Museum in Jerez would have some detailed info on Rafael. El Carbonero was young when he was studying with Rafael and doesn't know much more about him than what he told me in the interview. Gerardo Nuñez was only 15 years old when Rafael died. Perico and Antonio Jero were also quite young. Paco Cepero might know more since he was a bit older and might have been in contact with Rafael when he (Cepero) was more mature. Let's face it, children and teenagers don't usually ask their teachers information about their lives. Good luck with your research. If you find any additional info on Rafael, please share it with us. I, for one, would be very interested. Phil
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