avimuno -> RE: PdL too clinical (Aug. 25 2011 14:01:40)
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Derek... to be very honest, although I love PdL, he's not my favorite flamenco guitarist either. At the end of the day, it's down to taste. Paco's technique is of course absolutely amazing and his knowledge of flamenco cante and history is amongst the best... the guy is a walking encyclopedia. He definitely has an amazing style and I think that what you refer as 'clinical' is how he sounds and compose. His material is so popular that it has become a bit of a cliche. What sort of overkills it for me and what I mean by cliche is that everyone is influenced by him... and I mean everyone!!! You cannot blame people for that since he's such a great artist. The result is that this has made Paco's sound somewhat common... it's not his fault and it's not fair to say that about him, but it's true. I do not intend to diminish other guitarists by saying that and to be fair, most really good guitarists have a sound and a style of their own... it's just that most of them come from the 'Paco de Lucia School of Flamenco Guitar' and you can hear it. Personally, my favorite flamenco guitarist is Manolo Sanlucar. A lot of people do not like his style and his sound but I find that he is an incredible musician and artist. His sound is very unique and really suits his compositions, and his technique is also very personal if not understated (but here again, there are some things he does that I'm yet to hear the technical geniuses like Jeronimo do!). He has never really hit the mainstream of success but every album he has put out since Tauromagia has been amazing... before that not so much. Listen to 'Locura de Brisa y Trino'... it's a monument!! I honestly do not think that a single PdL/Tomatito/GerardoNunez/Vicente Amigo album comes close to that album... it's that good. But here again it's only my opinion and my taste. He has also composed some beautiful music for Sara Baras' 'Mariana Pineda', and I also love his 'Medea' album, although it's not flamenco. Here again, I do not want to diminish the work of other musicians... flamenco would be boring if everyone sounded the same and we are very lucky to have some amazing guitarists out there. And at the end of the day, this is not a contest... it's ridiculous to put one guitarist against another. But at the same time I also think that there's so much hype around PdL that this tends to overshadow the other great artists... Manolo Sanlucar being one of them.
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