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Ricardo -> RE: I change my opinion about Vicente Amigo (Apr. 19 2024 14:00:19)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Norman Paul Kliman
My pleasure, Jason. The reactions are sometimes pretty strong. People seem to have more of a sense of adventure about what they’ll put in their mouth (food) than in their ears.
When I was teaching English in Madrid, I had a British colleague about my age whose mother was from Alicante, and he spoke Spanish without the slightest accent. Just flawless, with all the lightning-fast wit and charm of native speakers (in the best of cases, of course). We were kind of in awe of him. One day, I had him listen to Camarón’s “Otra galaxia.” He was silent until the end, and then angrily shouted, You mean they pay this guy to sing like that?!!! [8|] I wouldn’t have been as surprised if he’d reacted that way to Agujetas, but Camarón? Personally, he’s not among my top five favorites, but come on: his singing is like ice cream!
My friends from Bolivia got into flamenco as kids and sing with the type of quejio the Gypsy kings do, obviously copying voice “afilla” and such, copying Camaron etc. When they were young doing local gigs in their home town, they performed at some venue, had the place packed and people dancing, a big hit. At the end when they went to get paid the owner of the venue said “you actually want me to pay for THAT?? You sing like a Frog!!”. [:D][:D]
This sound is an aesthetic that is going back to Planeta and Fillo discussing the issue of vocal quality in the 1830’s account, and hence the name voice “afilla”. My personal first encounter with cante was Carmen Amaya with Sabicas. The voice and footwork were both “noisy” and exotic, but off putting as I couldn’t hear the guitar well. Later I got into collecting Paco de Lucia albums, guided by a discography in Guitar magazine by “Marcos” (London). He describes Camaron and paco relationship as recording artists. I purchased Cada Vez que Nos Miramos, and with the text guide about forms, I totally got into right away. Still a favorite album today, my favorite cantes on there, Solea de Serneta, Fandango de Gloria, Siguiriyas, buleria with the “llamarme otro doctor”, etc. Maybe because I had taste for heavy metal singers etc., I don’t know why but I got the whole thing right away how the guitar and voice worked together. Then I found the live ablum in Germany with Cepero and Maria Vargas (paco played guajiras etc, Festival Flamenco), and realized Cepero was even BETTER than PDL at following the woman singer. I had an opera singer girl friend at the time and shared with her Maria’s buleria and fandango, and she thought it was good singing. Then the different singers on Tauromagia, el “Moro” aka Indio Gitano and i soon discovered Nuñez.
So I very much liked it right away, and of course Carmen Amaya was not a “great cantaora”, so it was understandable my first impression was a little not fair. But since those early days i have gravitated to MUCH older singers. I like Rafael Moreno and Niño de La isla these days. [:D][:D][:D]
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