Ron.M -> RE: Ohhh nooo! Es Verdad??? (May 23 2007 22:45:34)
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quote:
Thanks for your reply. It makes me feel better, I suppose. But what i want to know is why you feel the need to parody Juan Martin? Do you do this with other performers? I don't think so. I think there is a large section of this forum that has a negative view of Juan Martin, and i genuinely have no idea why. Of course, I'm relatively new to flamenco and i realise there are many brilliant performers that i have yet to discover and learn about. But what the hell is the problem with Juan Martin? Hi Kevin. I think he sets himself up for it IMO. It would be difficult to parody Tomatito, PdL, Gerardo etc...because they just let their music speak for itself. Vincente gets quite a bit of jokey flak too, with his " moody image", although he is certainly one of the finest Flamenco Guitarists in the world. I think the main problem is that Juan's publicity material far exceeds his peer rating, although he is a good and competent player. I agree that he did not write his reviews or results of polls, but he is happy to quote them in his publicity for his own reasons, so he's got to accept the consequences for that as well as the rewards. We all know that music critics for newspapers and the media are mainly "general" music lovers, probably with more of a grounding in Classical and Opera etc and have no in-depth knowledge of Flamenco, but still feel competent to air their professional views in print for the guidance of lesser mortals. One BBC Music Broadcaster came up with this gem.... " Juan Martin is arguably the finest flamenco guitarist on the planet." Now that is clearly and demonstratably untrue....it's not just a matter of "arguable taste". It's like saying Tim Hennman is arguably the best Tennis player on the planet, or that Scotland has arguably the best National Football team on the planet, or England arguably has the best cricket team on the planet. Probably this BBC guy was exposed to Flamenco for that one evening and was very impressed. If you had to mention Gerardo, Paco, Tomatito, Vincente, Manolo etc etc...he probably wouldn't even know who you were talking about IMO. The problem is that Juan takes such "gems" and adds them to his publicity portfolio, which leads to aficionados raising an eyebrow. I'm not knocking Juan here, but only answering your question about how JM has such a controverial time in serious Flamenco circles. Even forgetting about the more "modern" players...do you think that Paco Peña feels in the least intimidated that Juan was voted amongst the top 3 guitarists in an American guitar magazine? Of course not.. but like all the above professionals I mentioned, they will never criticize a fellow professional in public, since they all know how hard it is in the Music Business. cheers, Ron
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