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swampflower -> Intro (Jan. 8 2024 23:55:52)
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I'd had a crappy nylon acoustic guitar lying around for years, and I'd been dabbling in making sound with it once in a blue moon. I didn't know what I was doing. Better yet, I didn't even know what I wanted to be doing.
Years passed and the crappy guitar stuck with me, moved three times and kept the thing because "I might need it some day." Who would dare to part with a $50 plywood rattlebox and risk dealing with the intense regret should that day arrive?
Somewhere along the way I saw a weird dream where I was walking in a jungle through a florid scenery with the greenest vegetation, a realm that was vibrating the most fascinating blend of excitement, unpredictability, wilderness and danger, and familiarity. From depths of the unknown, a tiger appeared and approached me, with aggression. Suddenly I was holding a guitar in my hand and I started playing magic which tamed the tiger.
Ever since I've yearned to play the guitar.
I dabbled in it again, having just a tad more of a clue, trying to replicate what I did to the beast of my dream. I even learned a few chords. I played until my left hand's fingertips hurt so bad I had to patch them, continued for a little while and then let go of it once again.
A couple years passed, and I got the spark again, but a string was busted so I began looking for strings for a nylon acoustic, and being thorough to neurotic extent, I wanted to get to the bottom of it all and find out the supreme strings bar none.
As fate would have it, there was an innocent mention on one of the string sets that purported the strings to be apt for "flamenco." I think; What's flamenco? Let's find out.
I ended up watching a performance by Grisha Goryachev, without any context other than that this was supposedly flamenco. As one could guess, I was soon on to Paco de Lucia, Tomatito, Moraito Chico, Paco Peña, Niño de Pura, Manuel Cano, and many others whom I enjoyed and who helped me with homing in on my personal tastes.
As my current final destination and the source of true alchemy, I ended up with Diego del Gastor, whose music hypnotized me like I had done to that tiger. I also found a liking to more modest, less virtuosic "performances", like authentic Romani communal gatherings with singing, dancing, clapping and guitars coming together to tell stories and express and be present in the living moment.
I found a great many teachers on YouTube and soon after bought a guitar from a an instrument artisan who had built it for himself to practice flamenco techniques. It has a beautiful sound, flaws and a personality and a "spirit," and I love it. The quirks make playing the instrument feel like taming the tiger. I feel like I have a relationship with the instrument, one based on realism and mutual respect.
I'm here to ask more or less stupid questions, to learn and delve deeper into this rabbit hole. I tend to become very opinionated about things and get argumentative, but my intent is never to establish any kind of power hierarchy, and I don't take myself very seriously even if/when my rhetoric might give off a humorless vibe. If you ever do catch me with my head too far up my own rear and you have a speck of respect for me, please deliver a friendly but firm punch to my face.
I'm also keen on contributing to the ongoing efforts to determine once and for all the absolute value of Mr. Ruben to this community and culture, and to come up with the one and only, undisputable and completely unambiguous definition for "flamenco puro," treasures that I'm eagerly looking forward to pursuing with your friendly advocacy. (I jest, please don't kill me.)
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