guitarbuddha -> RE: Mano a mano (Oct. 26 2013 15:58:37)
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ORIGINAL: Ricardo Paco's music deliberately "evolves" over the course of his recorded history. A random sampling from different time periods will leave any new comer confused. On the other hand, studying ONLY him alone, say just one form like Solea or buleria etc, one can organize a play list in order by date recorded and in the course of an hour or so, get the whole history of how the flamenco guitar has evolved to the present day. I have my personal favorite albums of paco, but taken as a whole, his body of work recorded is almost more beautiful than any singular performance. I tend to recommend new comers to listen to paco's early recordings first so they can get the point of the direction his music took up to Siroco and beyond. It's a challenge for listeners IMO. To agree with Ricardo and provide an analogy. If you want to understand what is happening in Schoenberg then it is a good idea to start with Beethoven and take your time getting through Wagner and Strauss. And really do take your time, enjoy the trip. Maybe at the end you'll want to go straight home. But you'll have learned a lot on the way, and there will definitely be the odd pang of nostalgia. And maybe for the next trip take a different route and hit Shostakovich and Britten. How was Paco able to cover so much ground so quickly ?. Well like (and go ahead groan [:D]) Bach and (for variety) Handel he is a synthesist. He absorbed and incorporated everything that he could get his hands on to refine his mature style. And not just from guitar but from percussion, and not just from Spanish traditions but many others. If you go ahead and listen to his discography there is a real sense in which he is leading you through a good century of the aural tradition in world music from his perspective. Time well spent for any musician. And of course it will give you a great grounding to assess other younger flamenco players and you'll see why there is such universal admiration for Tomatito and here at the foro for our very own John Walsh. It will also give you a new perspective on some of the classical players you have heard. Some you thought were good may suffer but the great ones shine even brighter. You are clearly by turns fascinated and puzzled by flamenco. That is pretty much how we all started and where most of us, myself included find ourselves still. Enjoy it. D.
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