Ricardo -> RE: The evolution of solo flamenco guitar (Nov. 3 2020 16:26:23)
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ORIGINAL: devilhand Can someone please give us a short overview of how solo flamenco guitar playing has evolved? Recently I've listened to a few earlier solo flamenco guitar recordings of guys like Nino Ricardo or Melchor de Marchena. I could listen to it for hours. It has a certain charm one can't resist. On the other hand I can't enjoy Paco's solo flamenco and the modern solo flamenco guitar. Can we divide the history of solo flamenco guitar playing into 2 eras, namely pre-Paco and post-Paco era? I mean PdL and what came after Paco would be post-Paco era. The charm is a matter of taste. The thread linked gets at most of it. We can generalize by saying two eras are represented or divided by Ramon montoya and Paco de lucia only. Montoya recorded for cante at earliest times possible, and on the heels of segovia, offered the first solo guitar recordings on flamenco, 10 years after. While players did do solos before that, we look to the montoya collection as the fruition of the idea or concept. 1936. Paco de lucia performed Montoya’s Rondeña on his first EP in 1964. So we are talking at least 30 years of very little guitar solo evolution. We could get into specific contributions but you want quick and general. Also cante evolved during that time and it is important to include that in the story: quote:
My response earlier was regarding specifically the evolution of flamenco GUITAR SOLO playing, sorry for not making that clear. It is important to consider, when you are ready for it, the way the cante and guitar have evolved as well, both TOGETHER. It is a much less obvious subject, but in this thread last year I pointed out some of my own personal discoveries of how things have evolved within the world of cante using specific examples. http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=313974&appid=&p=&mpage=2&key=picaros&tmode=&smode=&s=#314283 Paco famously was told by sabicas to stop copying the maestros and develop his own material right at the time of the EP. He is the unique artist to upgrade and evolve all the guitar forms from that point forward with each successive recording project. Because the evolution is slow, and there are so many forms, I prefer to look at his body of work in twos or threes of successive advancement or change. If you can look past “not liking” Paco and simply analyze the progression, the evolution is crystal clear. Fabulosa/Fantasia - unique ideas including counter rhythms that predecessors only flirted with. Still playing maestros pieces. 1967-9 Duende Flamenco/Fuente y caudal- solid original style with many upgraded techniques and music ideas. Most fans like this the best as it had enough traditional flavor mixed with innovation to be heard along side the old masters. 1972-3 Almoraima/Castro Marin/solo quiero caminar- here is the main area of evolutionary change. More counter rhythm, even the rasgueados shift to the off beat before and after, new chords and scales, improvised runs over looped chord patterns (jazz to many ears) and worst of all... the dreaded inclusion of non flamenco instruments. Electric bass percussion Arabic oud, flute etc. 1976-1980 Siroco/Zyryab- here the final result of the previous experiments comes to fruition and the guy has reached a plateau of technique and mature modern music style. Most of the pieces only use traditional flamenco accompaniment instruments like palmas, however, to the people that lost him by 1980, this is alien music. This material serves as the “after” or the foundation of the modern flamenco guitar era. Many great young players begin their musical journey here. 1987-1990 Luzia/Cositas buenas- although he had reached his artistic peak already, Paco was nonetheless inspired by the younger generation of artists and was driven to push the envelope a little bit further. Each form was re-examined with a modern lens and re vamped or upgraded from his previous models. Less in the technique department and more in the area of harmony and chromaticism... not unlike the western classical composers after they had exhausted all the sweet spots of their eras. It is important to note his live shows started to mix material from both this and the previous era seamlessly, to people that could recognize the material. While a lot of us felt he still had more to say after this, it was the material he died playing. 1998-2004. Each of the above 5 stages of evolution is book marked by live albums that fill in the missing links. While certain colleagues of his like Manolo Sanlucar lived through the same changes of flamenco, and have personal artistic evolutions, none but Paco can so clearly demonstrate the specifics of how the music evolved since Ramon Montoya to present.
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