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Phil -> My 1st Bulerias lesson in Jerez (Aug. 26 2003 18:51:00)
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I’ve been taking lessons once or twice a week in Jerez for about 5 months now. Last week I finally decided that it was time to jump into Bulerias. I put it off for so long because I knew once I started I’d be consumed with it for a couple of months at the expense of other palos that I should be learning. I learned Bulerias from Chuck Keyser’s Flamenco Guitar Method and most of the falsetas are from Diego del Gastor. Now I want to get that “aire de Jerez” and learn the little details that you just can’t get from a book and that make one’s playing more Flamenco, in addition to learning falsetas.
Last Monday my teacher was over-run with students, and when that happens his 16-year-old son, Manolo, helps lighten the load by giving lessons to some of the beginners. Well, I’m not too proud to take a lesson from a 16-year-old and, if you heard me play, you’d agree that I don’t have much to be proud of. Anyway, this kid really plays well, so I said I’d be happy to take a lesson with him. Manolo is well anchored the traditional Flamenco of Jerez and he also likes the modern stuff. His hero is Paco de Lucia (who, to the youngsters, is traditional), but he also likes and plays Vicente Amigo and Gerardo Nuñez. I was bursting with anticipation to learn some Jerez style Bulerias. The first falseta he showed me was one he said was one of his favorites and that he plays all the time. Imagine my surprise when he played a variation of a Diego del Gastor falseta!
“Manolo,” I said, “that sounds like something from Diego del Gastor.”
“Really? I don’t know where it came from. I just know that it’s older than dirt,” he responded.
They were good falsetas and he taught them to me, along with a couple of other little things. This week I decided to take another lesson with him.
“Manolo, do you know any falsetas by Morao?” I asked.
“Sure I do.” And he proceeded to play a falseta.
“That doesn’t sound like what I’ve heard from Morao,” I said. I only have 1 CD on which Morao plays, so I’m obviously not familiar with the man’s entire repertoire, but it just didn’t sound like his style.
“I was thinking of something more along these lines,” I said and I played a falseta that I picked up from the CD.
“That’s not Morao,” Manolo said.
“I’m probably not playing it very well, but it’s definitely Morao,” I countered.
“No, you’re playing it fine. My father plays some falsetas like that. It’s another one of those really old falsetas.”
“Well, of course it’s a really old falseta. Morao is a really old guy,” I said gritting my teeth.
“Yeah, he’s pretty old, but he can’t be any older than you,” Manolo said innocently (or not).
Now this kid either thinks that I’m over 70-years-old or there’s some confusion here. I’m hoping that there’s some sort of confusion.
“Are we talking about the same person?” I asked him.
He pulls out a photograph and sticks it in my face. “Is this the guy?”
“No, goddamnit, that’s not Morao! That’s Moraito! I’m talking about his uncle, Manuel Moreno, also known as Morao!”
“You don’t have to yell. You should have been more specific,” he said.
After I calmed down he taught me a nice Bulerias falseta by MORAITO.
Phil
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