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This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
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I thought of you today Grisha. You are out there playing his music, the way it should be played. You are one of the few people on the planet that can portray his music live. Your job has now become even more important. I know that you're thinking only of Paco today, and not yourself, but i wanted you to know that's what i think.
Ole' for offering up some way to honor him. I'm with you all the way.
That's such a difficult question, in part, because Paco has already honored us, and more than we can ever repay. Tomatito, Vicente, etc.,...they all say, "Who doesn't sound like Paco?!"
How do you honor the person who so revolutionized flamenco guitar?
I don't say that to be dismissive of your question, Grisha. Not at all. I just feel like Paco's playing was a tremendous gift to flamenco, and his death means coming to terms with that. Maybe that's a start to an answer to your question.
It appears so self-evidently due that I am almost certain them to be organized. Not just one, but many festivals with guitarists of all levels or prominence dedicating to him.
Maybe each closing with all of the participating artists playing one of Paco´s major pieces together.
It should be one of the things to prevent 2014 from becoming as disheartening like 2013. -
After all there seem no too many aspects for any of the coming years to become better than 2013, aside of technological innovation and at best and very hopefully some change of human relations like coming to senses and contemplation.
Honoring Paco de Lucia should also mean to remember surrounding items that were still in place when Paco performed in the sixties, seventies ... The things and events he obviously valued a lot himself. Like enjoing sympathetic vibes, friendship and intact nature.
He not only passed away there, but always loved time at the beach. Suffice to say, a beach without stranded plastic bags and dead fish.
-
Of the things that depress me with his passing away, is the end of an aera. And that aera encompasses not only passed hope and set back of cultural peak but fauna and flora that is now either gone or about to extinct.
It appeasr consequential to me that honoring Paco means to also remember that he would like to have a place at the beach where he could tie up his hammock and get some fish to roast over fire. A place where his children could play and some day maybe even theirs.
Conditions that are about to become impossible. For his kids and grandchilds just as for yours.
How will flamenco be sounding in sand storms where there used to be Andalusian flowers? Will people still be wanting to dance?
What greater honor can there be than entire generations of musicians only playing because of a single man? Sounding the way they do purely because of him? A whole art form so dramatically shaped by a single artist?
But I feel that to truly honor Paco, only keeping his work alive isn't enough...flamencos should honor his philosophy in regards to flamenco and keep pushing the boundaries, no matter what anyone else says. That's Paco too.
Dont worry. Paco will always be honored. He will always be there and I dont think anything special has to be done. Just think about what he did to flamenco and get happy. His music will always be there. Paco was a man of the people. In Spain he is portrayed as "un hombre sencillo". They are making a museum for him and he said that he didn´t see himself as a person important enough to have a museum about him and his work. I dont think he would have wanted to be honered more than he already will be.
Think about him, listen to his music, play some of it if you can and let it enter your life and make you happy. I think thats the best way to honor him. If you can go to his "capilla ardiente" friday in Madrid or to his funeral in Algeciras saturday, then do it. I think its going to be very big.
They are making a museum for him ... I dont think he would have wanted to be honered more than he already will be.
I read Grisha's question somehow differently, perhaps because over the years I learned of his close connection to Paco De Lucia and his work. I also believe that anyone who loves or studies flamenco, will inevitably establish a rather personal relationship with him, a bond of passion, through emulation, appreciation and admiration.
From his faithful choice of guitar to his innovative way of holding it, each one of has keenly observed every detail of this musician, and now preserves indelible memories. Some had the pleasure to meet him, like Richard Kozma did, when Paco asked him to play his composition, after a concert outside the theater in a cold winter night, Richard's fingers frozen, not by the inclement weather but by the intensity of the moment. And yet he played for Paco De Lucia, and that music, that moment will forever play and replay in his memory.
It is Paco De Lucia's "influence" on him, on us all, each in his or her own way, that I think Grisha wants to honor, as he restlessly grieves the death of his idol.
It seems obvious that the most appropriate way of honoring that personal bond would be through music. Here is my suggestion, those who are at (or about) Grisha's level of musicianship, could record a video, a tutorial of one of De Lucia' s pieces which each recognizes as influential or emotionally important, so that the posterity of flamenco students may approach learning De Lucia's work though the hands and with the heart of the grieving interpreter and teacher.
ForoFlamenco could dedicate a section to this effort, "Twelve Heartbeats in a Measure: Learning Paco De Lucia."
RE: How can we honor Paco? (in reply to estebanana)
Right on, Stephen. I came into work this morning and one of my colleagues, who had never heard of him before, is streaming his music. That's a great tribute right there!
I think I read the same as you did GJ, and I expressed more or less the same as the last 2 posters did.
Everyone is free to do what he/she likes, but Paco clearly expressed various times that he didn´t like the fuzz around his person. I think thats the reason the funeral saturday will be strictly private and intimate in his village.
I throw my lot in with those who suggest that we honor Paco by sharing his music with others. I got a sense of how important that is last night. A woman with whom I play squash and whom I introduced to flamenco and to Paco de Lucia, called me to express her condolences, as she had read that he had passed away. It was a bright spot in a rather somber time, as I thought that she had embraced his playing sufficiently to think it necessary to call me upon hearing of his passing. I thought to myself, "Paco has touched another soul."
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Haven't we all honored Paco with our love for his music? Manolo Sanlúcar: "those who don't know much about this stuff love Paco, and those who know about it worship him". A foro section dedicated to Paco would be appropriate. Perhaps no musician is ordinary, but Paco was less ordinary that others.
PS, earlier I wrote about Paco singing through his guitar. Seeing that video of you, Grisha, posted by GJ, I couldn't help noticing your throat. You sir, are a singer too!
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RE: How can we honor Paco? (in reply to gerundino63)
quote:
I like your idea a lot G.J.
As I was reading your reply, Gerundino63 I was savoring the idea of working with such tutorial videos, say by Grisha, Ricardo, ToddK and many other accomplished guitarists here.
And I hope that way they will also each capture that ever so elusive spirit of flamenco: Paco De Lucia's "Duende".
RE: How can we honor Paco? (in reply to gj Michelob)
Thank you gj for posting this of Grisha; he really does do this piece justice, plays with aire and sincere love of the music, which comes through clearly -- eso es Grisha.
And here's as vote for your foro section idea -- something practical and hopefully non-competitive.
We've not communicated but I've enjoyed your posts over the years.
Thank you gj for posting this of Grisha; he really does do this piece justice, plays with aire and sincere love of the music, which comes through clearly -- eso es Grisha.
Thank you, Jared. I must confess that 'once upon a time' I have been (most respectfully) critical of Grisha's want of passion in his performance. When he shared that PDF's Fandango, i was stunned and praised him for a truly, infectiously spirited interpretation.
Along with it are a few more of Grisha's black & white interpretations of Paco De Lucia, I just can't listen to enough. I am sure you've seen these videos, but here they are for the record:
Por Bulerias
Por Granadina (check the picado at 2:18 followed by an impeccable and moving tremolo)
and once again... Por Fandango
Thank you, Erik, for pointing out i had the wrong link for the Granaina It is now edited.
RE: How can we honor Paco? (in reply to estebanana)
This is really an inspired idea Stephen -- many of us are proselytizers for flamenco, but especially now with Paco's passing, people who otherwise wouldn't have crossed paths with flamenco might be more open.
But there are two things to watch out for I think:
One is that a "cult" situation not be created, where flamenco, and Paco, gets over-mysticized.
The other, kind of related, is that some new orthodoxy takes hold in which Paco's music becomes THE ONLY TRUE FLAMENCO and woe to he who play otherwise.
I posted earlier that we should think now about Paco's humanity, his greatness as a person -- which seems universally acknowledged -- maybe another way to honor him is to aspire to that in our lives .
RE: How can we honor Paco? (in reply to gj Michelob)
Well thanks again -- would you say, apropos of "what happens now," that Grisha is certainly the best known, and probably the best, representative of a new position for Paco's music in particular, and flamenco music in general -- a body of work (as they say) which can be replicated, with varying degrees of success, and more importantly internalized and "interpreted" by a skilled player, "owned" I guess is the expression nowadays; so that there is Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tárrega, Brouwer, Villa-Lobos, whoever you like -- and Paco, Vicente, et al as well.
At a certain point the musical world has to accept that these player/composers of flamenco are to be considered in the same light as the classical masters -- whether the flamencos themselves like the company or not!
I think it should be a mix. I don't feel ready to play his music now and do it justice at the moment as I have not been practicing at all. Now is probably a good time to really learn his pieces from A to Z and not just little parts here and there.
A buddy hanging out last night made this Little video clip of our juerga for Paco. My Friend Jose singing made up his little Paco Song there on the spot
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