BarkellWH -> RE: What's everyones' guitar backgroung? (May 13 2017 13:53:18)
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In 1960, my parents gave me a guitar for my 17th birthday. It was during the folk music boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s--The Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul, and Mary; The Limelighters; Ramblin' Jack Elliot; Harry Belafonte; and others (Bob Dylan and Joan Baez had not come into their own yet). I loved folk and learned to play three and four chord progressions which enabled one to play hundreds of folk songs. At the same time, I was introduced to flamenco by Carlos Montoya. He performed in Phoenix, Arizona where I was living, and I bought several of his albums. Shortly thereafter I discovered Sabicas. I loved flamenco guitar, but knew nothing about flamenco, other than I loved the sound of the guitar. I went to the university, spent a few years in the U.S. Air Force, and eventually entered the U.S. Foreign Service and the State Department. Most of my career was spent in Maritime Southeast Asia, with several assignments to Latin America and Washington, DC. While I took my guitar with me everywhere, I did not advance beyond what I knew during the folk boom. After retiring from a career in the Foreign Service (while still doing some consulting work for the State Department overseas and with a Defense Department contractor), I decided I wanted to learn flamenco. So, at an age when most people are thinking of where they want to retire and play golf, I found a great flamenco guitar teacher in Washington, DC named Paco de Malaga. Paco teaches flamenco guitar, and his wife Ana teaches dance. I have been with Paco now for several years, and we are not only teacher and student, but my wife and I have become good friends with Paco and Ana as well. Through my relationship with Paco, I have learned some nice pieces on the guitar, and more than that, I have learned a great deal about the history of flamenco and the great figures that it has produced. Paco was a very good friend of Paco de Lucia (As a boy, he studied flamenco guitar under Paco de Lucia's father and his older brother, Ramon de Algeciras.) At my age, and considering my late start, I will never be a first-rate flamenco guitarist or even a very good one, but I enjoy playing and it is fun to entertain friends. And the friendship I have with Paco de Malaga is worth its weight in gold. Flamenco has added a whole new dimension to my life, and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to pursue it. Bill
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