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BarkellWH -> RE: Paco Pena Performing in Washington, DC Area Tonight (Feb. 2 2013 18:03:54)
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Paco Pena's performance last night was a real treat, especially for someone like me who prefers more traditional flamenco. The troupe consisted of Paco, two other guitarists, a cajon, two cantaores (one male, one female) and three dancers (one male, two female). No electric bass guitar, no harmonica; just the essentials for a good evening of traditional flamenco, with enough of more modern sounds to satisfy those so inclined. My wife and I attended the concert with our good friend and my guitar guru Paco de Malaga and his wife Ana. Paco de Malaga, who as a young teenager of 14 or 15 studied under Paco de Lucia's brother Ramon de Algeciras, is in the same age cohort as Paco Pena, and he told me that at the time all of them were becoming proficient, the biggest influence was Nino Ricardo. There was a bit of that last night, and a lot of Sabicas as well.
One of the interesting pieces last night (and I saw it similarly performed when Paco played here three years ago) was a duet, consisting of Paco playing guitar while facing one of the dancers who was seated and playing castanuelas. Paco would play and she would accompany on castanuelas, all the while making cocquettish movements and finishing up each segment with a flirtatious sort of finale of the castanuela in front of Paco.
For the finale, everyone, including Paco, was standing up, and each did something different than his (her) specialty: One of the guitarists became a cantaor and sang, the cantaora got up and danced, the cajon player danced. It was a riot, and everyone was having a great time.
It was a great evening of flamenco.
Cheers,
Bill
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