Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
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.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to Stu)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Stu
yeah I mean I dont think anyone has said he isn't a top notch player.
In fact thats the whole point of this post. He so technically brilliant...so why isnt he more succesful/popular?
whats your theory?
It’s show biz. In that sense, technical brilliance isn’t really much of a product. It can be part of the skill set used to craft a product or can even be presented as an essential element of the product but, in and of itself, it doesn’t bring enough to the table to guarantee anything.
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to Piwin)
quote:
Flamenco just doesn't have that culture of musicians as interpreters. Personally, I greatly appreciate what the handful of guitarists who have chosen that route do. There's a lot of value in it, but admittedly it's not the route to stardom in this particular genre.
I agree, and this is unfortunate. Recently saw a rendition of Moraito's Mercado Persa by Alberto Fernández which was very moving—I even prefer it over the original maestro's:
Posts: 3446
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to RobF)
quote:
ORIGINAL: RobF
It’s show biz. In that sense, technical brilliance isn’t really much of a product. It can be part of the skill set used to craft a product or can even be presented as an essential element of the product but, in and of itself, it doesn’t bring enough to the table to guarantee anything.
At a recent concert here in Austin, before an audience of 50 at a very large private house, Grisha Goryachev played for a little more than an hour. He performed pieces by Sabicas, Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Rafael Riqueni... Technical brilliance was a requirement for these virtuoso pieces, but Grisha was strongly emotionally involved with every piece. He moved the audience with his expressiveness.
The next night he played at the 1200 seat Austin Independent School District Performing Arts Center. Austin Classical Guitar performances here generally sell out, but I have no attendance figures.
I didn't go to this one, but I have seen Grisha in both intimate and large public settings. The emotion he conveys in both settings moves the audience.
The Austin audience is not generally well informed about flamenco, and the classical guitar audience is well accustomed to the performer playing pieces composed by others.
Paco de Lucia played the 2350 seat Riverbend Center here in May, 2012. I was out of town. I read an enthusiastic amateur review which said the place was about 3/4 full.
Javier Conde's affect in videos seems a bit cool. I haven't seen him in person, so I have no idea how he well he might do here.
Posts: 4516
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)
You asked, why isn't he "popular" and becoming popular by definition is to be relatable to general public and simply numbers, and that is a combination of your other "PR" related skills, unfortunately also other shallow and superficial elements which you have no control or power over like how you appear when you perform, looks, shy or not, etc. a bit of luck, and yeah finally your musical skills. So being popular is not just musical skills and not a given.
I think it is as simple as that.
I personally believe Javier Conde has both extremely good technique, but also he can compose and also does not lack feeling, even though it might appear a bit like that. Also I think some musicians are harder and more self critical orientied on themselves when it comes to own creations and believe there is enough to discover from maestros for a lifetime. Javier should release at least one album and I feel like he probably has a lot composed in secret for himself.
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to RobF)
This is going to be less a response directly to the OP's question and more a general sentiment, but as someone who grew up with the internet (I was plugging away at Nickelodeon and Nintendo websites since the mid 90s, from as early as 4 or 5 years old), I feel like the way in which the internet functions nowadays has done massive, in some way irreversible damage to legions of artists. If folks remember, the early days of YouTube felt palpably different -- no one was fighting algorithms and views were somehow easier to come by, there was meaningful engagement from the community by way of comments and posts on one's general YouTube page or private messages (remember when that was a thing?). There was no click-bait or need to create thumbnails where the content creator always has some stupid exaggerated expression on their face. And as much as I love services like Spotify, they have also been responsible for cratering physical media sales that don't have significant marketing muscle behind them. I speak with some bitterness because I feel like even with some of my more viral videos (like that Animal Crossing: New Horizons theme that ended up getting over 100,000 views), it hardly registers as meaningful engagement because it does not translate into further reciprocative interaction or people checking out other content that doesn't have an immediate connection to some sort of popular media. My arrangements of beautiful songs like Bruno Martino's Estate or Michel Legrand's The Windmills of your Mind are sitting somewhere in the range of several thousand to maybe 10k views (with, interestingly, older videos that I uploaded in the early days of YouTube having garnered many more views and comments). You have a few breakout social media / YouTube stars who have been able to strike a balance between serious musicality and more click-baity humorous content (someone like Lucas Brar, a brilliant guitarist, comes to mind). But these folks are few and far between. All these feelings arise for me amidst a time when many of the artists I grew up with and admired are on their way out -- almost the entirety of the Brazilian bossa-nova and Tropicalia movements are in their 70s-80s, for example, give it another ten years and the vast majority will be dead. It's deeply upsetting to me that the current state of art and music is not conducive to the rise of distinct movements. Or, at the very least, these movements do not strike me as anywhere near as cohesive or meaningful as, for example, bossa-nova, the Paco de Lucia generation, etc... there are largely no big figures anymore, not because of a lack of talent or artistic distinctiveness, but the irony of massively greater access to content but the exact same human attention span and the same 24 hours in a day... sorry, his was a bit of a stream of consciousness, it probably didn't help that I just went down a YouTube rabbit hole checking out all of my favorite Brazilian artists and realizing that they aren't getting any younger.
RE: Why isn’t Javier Conde more po... (in reply to Bulerias2005)
Yeah, gone are the days of slouching on the couch reading an album jacket while an LP spins on the Hi-Fi. At times that was the only other connection one had with an artist besides their music. I saw an interview where Paul McCartney said he used to zone out for hours while staring at albums covers when he was a kid.
quote:
I just went down a YouTube rabbit hole checking out all of my favorite Brazilian artists and realizing that they aren't getting any younger.
Could you be persuaded to post a thread about some of the Brazilian artists you enjoy? Maybe in the off-topic section?
On another note, I personally have always really enjoyed the videos of your playing that you post in the off-topic section.
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread