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Pedoviejo -> Vicente Amigo "Tierra" & great guitars (Jan. 21 2013 21:21:21)
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WARNING: This is a shameless plug for my as yet unpublished article.
Vicente's latest, "Tierra," is a beautiful, even ethereal, album which I believe will further expand Vicente's fan base beyond the boundaries of flamenco. I had the privilege of listening to the CD last October with Vicente while cruising around the burbs of Córdoba in his convertible on a beautiful afternoon - and that after hours of great conversation, great food and marvelous wines. (Yeah, it doesn't get any better than that.) His interview was the last one for an article I've almost finished which centers on Lester DeVoe and Arcángel Fernández, which, besides lots of material from Lester and Arcángel themselves, will include observations and commentary from Vicente and Paco de Lucía on their guitars and their art. (Tidbit: "Fantasía Flamenca de Paco de Lucía" was not recorded with a Conde.) You’ll be able to read why Vicente is now playing a Graciliano (he recorded "Tierra" with his old Reyes as well as his new Graciliano), what Paco looks for in his guitars, what he and Vicente like about Lester's guitars; the unvarnished Arcángel on lutherie, artists and the guitar market and....
But wait! There's more! Sitting with Paco in his private home studio with Lester while Paco selects his newest guitar (he got to pick from 3); Paco pulling a guitar from his collection in a large glass-doored case with bunches more, which he puts in my hands telling me, "My father had one of these" - and it was a 1926 Domingo Esteso. Riding shotgun with 80 year old Arcángel driving up a very steep, 2000 meter volcano in the Canary Islands, cruising through white-knuckle, hair pin turns with shear drop offs down which you see your imminent death while Arcángel holds forth on sundry topics. (He wanted to show me the magnificent caldera and views at the summit, but visibility was 20 feet/7 meters with clouds blowing past at a brisk, bone chilling pace. But we did have a great meal down the other side of the mountain in a wayside bar-restaurant with goatherds and local farmers and lots of Malvasía, the local wine.) And then walking through Puerta del Sol with Lester while he tells me that he wasn’t that fond of Spanish food so he usually looks for a Chinese place when he’s in Spain. (There were words.)
And yet, somehow, I was able to catch all these people in situ but missed Kate and a great neighborhood party in the Albaicín. Sorry, Kate.
And about “Tierra”: Vicente loved the mixture of his flamenco guitar with Celtic music, but talked as if it was an odd but beautiful pairing, and I told him, “Vicente, it’s Celtíbero!” He laughed. (He laughs a lot – wonderful, great person.) My reference was to Spain’s history. After the original, mysterious people of Spain known simply as “Iberians” came the Celts, who formed a culture which archeologists and anthropologists call “Celt-Iberian” (“Celtíbero” in Spanish.) Closer to home for Vicente, there was a significant Celt-Iberian settlement in Córdoba that pre-dated the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Muslims (“Moors”) who each contributed to and re-created Vicente’s home town. (I know because there was an aerial photograph of it in the archeological museum in Córdoba – only a photograph because the government built the new train station right on top of it.) So Vicente’s joining of flamenco with Celtic music is ingenuously intuitive, a sort of closing of the circle. (Wait ‘till you hear Celtic musicians rock with Vicente por bulerías – and Vicente sings, too!)
Stay tuned and I will announce when and where the article will be published.
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