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I was lucky enough to attend a guitar workshop with Gerardo Nunez last weekend - what an experience! He was the head-liner of the flamenco festival Iberica in Czech republic and was also teaching a 2-days workshop. Despite the fact that the workshop was free (thank you, EU grants!) only about 8-10 guitarists showed up - on the other hand I'm not sure if there's many more of us around here.
He immediately started with some pretty advanced SpB falseta, but he must have noticed me sitting in the first row, awkwardly holding the guitar, because he said "Oh, I see we have guitarists of various level here so let's start with the basics" :) He started with various rasqueados, I even learned a new one and he made me repeat it over and over until I got it right. I never thought it would be possible to teach a class of guitarists of so varied a level but he did it. He always started with a nice melodic falseta or accompaniment that us beginners could follow and then proceeded to the more advanced stuff. This way everyone was happy and we left with material for months to come.
He's also a very nice guy - had no problem accompanying dance lesson for 2 straight hours when asked to and really had fun doing it - all the while showing us guitarists simple tricks for dance accompaniment. He even got really interested when he found out I built my guitar myself - he played it for a while and approved I can play flamenco on that thing ;)
Cepillo on cajon and dancer Carmen Cortes were amazing as well - if you got a chance to attend a workshop with Gerardo, definitely go for it, it was an amazing experience.
I'm still a little "high" from the whole thing - that's why such a long-winged post :)
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Posts: 598
Joined: Feb. 9 2007
From: Paris, France
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to kominak)
That's awesome man!! I can only imagine the high feeling... I wished these guys came to Paris for workshops and concerts, but they very rarely do for some reason.
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to kominak)
Seems like Gerardo likes and excels in this workshop type environment as he seems to do a lot of them. It would be nice to see something like this here in the U.S.
Posts: 11
Joined: Aug. 19 2013
From: The Netherlands
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to avimuno)
quote:
ORIGINAL: avimuno ...I wished these guys came to Paris for workshops and concerts, but they very rarely do for some reason.
Why don't you invite him? He is a busy guy, but if you make him a reasonable offer, why not? It is just a matter of rounding up enough guitar enthousiasts to make it financially feasible. The same holds for Dyingsea (although I see travel expenses may be a problem if you want him to come to the U.S.). If you have trouble getting a hold of Gerardo, I might be able to help (although it may take some time. It took me a lot of chasing to get him to do an interview).
Posts: 15641
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to Marlies Jansen)
quote:
It is just a matter of rounding up enough guitar enthousiasts to make it financially feasible.
Well that's the whole thing. In case you missed that little part, it was GRANT FUNDED. So why don't YOU get a grant and send him to paris and USA? Thanks.
Posts: 11
Joined: Aug. 19 2013
From: The Netherlands
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
So why don't YOU get a grant and send him to paris and USA? Thanks.
Well, why don't you come and write my articles for the Dutch flamenco magazine? I was just trying to be helpful and positive. Sometimes wishes do come through, but it does take a lot of work!
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to Marlies Jansen)
quote:
Sometimes wishes do come through, but it does take a lot of work!
Absolutely! I can only imagine the amount of work and the heaps of paper needed for such a grant to come through. I'm glad the people behind Iberica festival are real flamenco fanatics and I'm very thankful for all the hard work they put into this.
Posts: 25
Joined: Feb. 28 2012
From: Brno (Czech Republic)
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to kominak)
yeah yeah Martin, I exactly know what you mean by "high" feeling... Im still stoned by this workshops....
I would just add that Iberica festival is always great, but this year, it was.... Im speechless. Gerardo, Carmen and Cepillo were a "gift" (maybe not the best expression) for regular students, because this year it was 10th anniversary of this festival... We also had beautiful workshop (payed one) with Carlos Pinana, who led us through interesting technique practising, showed us nice accomp. of many palos.
Gerardo and Carlos played their festival concerts of course, we saw great show also by Jorge Pardo@group - with Josemi Carmona. on guitar.
Superb festival. And some personal "best": I had a jam with Cepillo, who suddenly appeared in the bar (or maybe I suddenly saw him? ) . And because this festival really connect musicians, one of the Cepillo's cajon student - Jakub - joined our group and we became a part of the a wonderful gig in Prague, which turned into a great afterparty.
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to juankonik)
Hey Juan, great photo! Showing nice atmosphere ;)
I saw you were one of the more advanced guitarists, it must have been even better experience for you. My younger daughter was too small yet to endure whole week of flamenco so we came only for the weekend. The older (3yo) came with me to see Carmen's dancing class but left after 1 hour - said it was too loud and why were they always stomping and shouting? :) Hopefully we'll meet next year!
Posts: 15641
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to kominak)
quote:
ORIGINAL: kominak
Hey Juan, great photo! Showing nice atmosphere ;)
I saw you were one of the more advanced guitarists, it must have been even better experience for you. My younger daughter was too small yet to endure whole week of flamenco so we came only for the weekend. The older (3yo) came with me to see Carmen's dancing class but left after 1 hour - said it was too loud and why were they always stomping and shouting? :) Hopefully we'll meet next year!
you guys should just come to sanlucar, it's like that but even better everyday for a week.
Posts: 25
Joined: Feb. 28 2012
From: Brno (Czech Republic)
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
ORIGINAL: kominak
Hey Juan, great photo! Showing nice atmosphere ;)
I saw you were one of the more advanced guitarists, it must have been even better experience for you. My younger daughter was too small yet to endure whole week of flamenco so we came only for the weekend. The older (3yo) came with me to see Carmen's dancing class but left after 1 hour - said it was too loud and why were they always stomping and shouting? :) Hopefully we'll meet next year!
She will got into it, Im sure :) Ok, next year in Boskovice, or maybe in Prague 1. 12. 2013 on Tomatito=s concert? Ill be there
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo
you guys should just come to sanlucar, it's like that but even better everyday for a week.
definitely. Im working in IT company and even my boss told me I should "improve my summer performance", its too tirititran for him maybe... I told him I would like to see his level after 4 years of playing and also that I ve had good and bad gigs which quite normal for amateur... But if I ll suggest some "takatakatatakataka" trip to Sanlucar" as my improvement plan... it should make him happy
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to Ricardo)
One last thing I forgot to mention - Carmen Cortes appeared in foroflamenco t-shirt at the workshop. I didn't know such a thing existed? Anybody knows where did she get one?
quote:
Ok, next year in Boskovice, or maybe in Prague 1. 12. 2013 on Tomatito=s concert? Ill be there
my chances are a little slim for tomatito's concert but if I'll go we should definitely have a beer ;)
Posts: 1156
Joined: Dec. 6 2006
From: Hamilton, ON
RE: Weekend with Gerardo Nunez (in reply to kominak)
quote:
ORIGINAL: kominak
One last thing I forgot to mention - Carmen Cortes appeared in foroflamenco t-shirt at the workshop. I didn't know such a thing existed? Anybody knows where did she get one?
Pimientito had them made a few years ago. If you want one I'd bet he still has a few. Gerardo can sometimes be seen wearing his too!
Thanks, Adam, good to know. At first I was thinking it's just a site with a similar name, but as I looked closer I saw it was really foroflamenco.com. So I had to ask :)
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