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Ricardo -> RE: New Book Of Flamenco Guitarist Interviews In English (Mar. 5 2016 17:14:26)
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I got the iBook and read it the other day. Very good interviews. Most of them come from the excellent magazine Acordes del Flamenco. I grew up on guitar magazines as a kid, these are simply the perfect thing for guitar nerds like me with great photos interviews transcriptions and lessons. I was able to pick up several back copies when I was in Spain last. I really wish I had a subscription years ago. Anyway, the only problem for some people would be that it's in Spanish.
Back to the book, there was a general depressing attitude about the general problem with flamenco guitar being marginalized in Spain. Although there are a couple of positive interviews from Enrique del Melchor and Manolo Franco...generally the second half of the book. But looking at the two Gerardo interviews we see how quickly things have changed for the worse. (His first article is very positive and bright, the second rather depressing to hear the state of things).
I want to point out my favorite quote from the book was from Tomatito discussing his last album (Soy Flamenco) that people say he is the compas master por buleria, but playing with a click was very challenging, and the slow buleria turned out to be the most difficult one for him. Further he uses the precise metronome markings (130bpm being his normal fast speed buleria and 110bpm being the slow one for him), which tells me two things. 1. He is very aware about precise tempos of his pieces, and 2. He feels the buleria quarter note as the beat (the half note as normally notated in transcriptions that make buleria look the same as Solea compas, or 12,2,4,6,8,10 etc) rather than the dotted quarter, which is super important for relating the compas to both students and musicians from other disciplines that want to understand the music.
Anyway, the translations were excellent. Cheers.
Ricardo
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