Texto y Fotos : José Manuel Serrano Esparza
March 1, 2014. After his arrival at Algeciras (Cádiz) during the early morning, three days after his demise in Cancun (México), and remaining inside the chapel of rest of the Council Chamber of the Town Hall, the coffin with the bodily remains of Paco de Lucía, The Best Flamenco Guitar Player in History, reaches the Church of La Palma being welcomed by the weeping of tens of thousands of people overcrowding both the Plaza Alta and its surroundings, throwing roses and carnations in his path while the casket is carried upon their shoulders by his closest relatives and friends.
The pain is huge and there isn´t any relief whatsoever.
An exceptional
and unique human being, loved by everybody and one of the most important XX and
XXI Centuries worldwide musicians has passed away.
A man who was born in 1947 within
a humble family of the Bajadilla Quarter in Algeciras
and would turn with the elapse of time into the most preeminent and influential flamenco guitarist ever, an accomplished genius of music and composition, who had the wisdom to break the mold at the adequate moment, greatly reinventing the instrument and simultaneously managing to remain loyal to the tradition (embodied by Ramón Montoya, Sabicas and Niño Ricardo, the benchmarks throughout forties, fifties and sixties), but whose versatility, steadiness and immense gift for music enabled him to preserve the survival of Flamenco as an art and way of living and grasping existence by means of his revolutionary guitar playing, a more than formidable sense of rhythm learnt since his childhood
playing the guitar twelve hours daily, a boundless passion for what he did, his magical fingers brimming with enchantment, an indefatigable perfectionism and an innate ability to evolve and create joining together the deepest Flamenco tradition with enriching elements inherent to other musical genres, without ever distorting its roots, but updating its language, making it known and internationally expanding it in a dramatic way, building along with Camarón de la Isla the Contemporary Flamenco and laying the ground for its future and further development during XXI Century.
and would turn with the elapse of time into the most preeminent and influential flamenco guitarist ever, an accomplished genius of music and composition, who had the wisdom to break the mold at the adequate moment, greatly reinventing the instrument and simultaneously managing to remain loyal to the tradition (embodied by Ramón Montoya, Sabicas and Niño Ricardo, the benchmarks throughout forties, fifties and sixties), but whose versatility, steadiness and immense gift for music enabled him to preserve the survival of Flamenco as an art and way of living and grasping existence by means of his revolutionary guitar playing, a more than formidable sense of rhythm learnt since his childhood
playing the guitar twelve hours daily, a boundless passion for what he did, his magical fingers brimming with enchantment, an indefatigable perfectionism and an innate ability to evolve and create joining together the deepest Flamenco tradition with enriching elements inherent to other musical genres, without ever distorting its roots, but updating its language, making it known and internationally expanding it in a dramatic way, building along with Camarón de la Isla the Contemporary Flamenco and laying the ground for its future and further development during XXI Century.
Following the
exceedingly moving lying in state of his body in the Church of La Palma, Paco
(few times four letters had more meaning) is taken to the Old Cemetery of
Algeciras where he is buried.
Since then, every day the sun rises at dawn lighting up the Beach of El Rinconcillo to substantiate the knowledgeable and transcendent words pronounced by the journalist and writer from Algeciras Juan José Téllez, a great friend of Paco de Lucía and his biographer, during the funeral service ( ´ Paco was a King Midas turning into Flamenco everything he played, and was able to compose, perform and record some of the greatest masterpieces of the last 50 years or the last 50 centuries, with the pain and sacrifice of those ones finding that in the sin of art they really bear the penance of their soul ´ ) and to pay homage to The Greatest Benchmark of Flamenco Guitar Ever, a humble man who while being a child had to leave primary school because of the lack of economical means of his family, and who has been, is and will go on being to Flamenco guitar what Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh and Itzhak Perlman to violin, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter to piano, Maria Callas to Opera, Sergiu Celibidache to Bruckner, Sir John Barbirolli and Leonard Bernstein to Mahler´s 9th Symphony, Gregor Piatigorsky to Walton Concert for Cello and Orchestra, Jacqueline Du Pré to Elgar´s Concert for Cello, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis to trumpet or Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Chuck Berry, B.B.King, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Joe Satriani to electric guitar.
Fuente y Caudal, edited in 1973, was the álbum that internationally showcased Paco de Lucía and in which he dazzled
everybody with his masterly technique and unique style, boosted by a remarkable
creative gift verifying a great and unusual maturity in an only 26 year old artist.
The diachronic
significance of this record in the inception of the New Flamenco was
fundamental, for specially the worldwide momentum gained by the theme " Entre Dos
Aguas ", made possible to approach it to millions of people in the five continents who didn´t know this sort of
music.
In addition,
Paco displayed a great assortment of expressive means which greatly ravished the
new generation of Flamenco guitarists, who from this year on had Paco de Lucía
as their benchmark and maestro.
With this
recording Paco started Flamenco renovation from inside and attained his international artistic recognition as an acclaimed guitarist, which would
be progressively enhanced by his historical concert at Royal Theatre of Madrid in 1975, his friendship and abundant concerts with Jazz figures like John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Al Di Meola and Chick Corea from 1979, his recordings with The Sextet ( an ensemble boasting huge musical quality with first-class musicians like the Saxophonist and flue Jesús Pardo, the electric bass Carles Benavents, the percussionist Rubem Dantas, the guitarist Ramón de Algeciras, the Flamenco singer Pepe de Lucía, etc), his performances of Manuel de Falla music, his remarkable version of Joaquín Rodrigo´s Aranjuez Concert and some elements of Indian
classical music as to its tonalities and resonances he learned from the great sitar player Ravi Shankar in Tokyo (Japan).
Paco led off here his
career as the international leading figure of Flamenco guitar, holding
unchallenged sway over the interaction between his incredibly fast and accurate
pickings, slower chords and deeply meaningful split seconds featured by Fuente
y Caudal, made up by eight different themes: “ Entre Dos Aguas “ (Rumba), “
Aires Choqueros “ (Fandangos from Huelva), “ Reflejo de Luna “ (Granaína), “
Solera “ (Bulerías por Soleá), “ Fuente y Caudal “ (Taranta), “ Cepa Andaluza “
(Bulerías), “ Los Pinares” (Tangos) and “ Plaza de San Juan “ (Alegrías).
Lush zone of trees around 1 kilometer after the beginning of the Track of River Miel, beyond the industrial area of the Cortijo Real and El Cobre
Quarter.
The reaction triggered by the fabulous guitar playing of Paco de Lucía all over the world for many decades was explained by Michael Stein (Paco de Lucía´s manager for 30 years, Director of Palast Promotion Consulting Agency for Event Management GmbH and currently one of the most important musical international agents and organizer of all kind of events), who after knowing the death of Paco, travelled from Germany to Algeciras and was present both in the funeral service for Paco at the Church of La Palma (where he read a touching speech and a message from John McLaughlin, a great friend of Paco, who couldn´t go to Algeciras because he was in Cambodia) and in his burial.
The reaction triggered by the fabulous guitar playing of Paco de Lucía all over the world for many decades was explained by Michael Stein (Paco de Lucía´s manager for 30 years, Director of Palast Promotion Consulting Agency for Event Management GmbH and currently one of the most important musical international agents and organizer of all kind of events), who after knowing the death of Paco, travelled from Germany to Algeciras and was present both in the funeral service for Paco at the Church of La Palma (where he read a touching speech and a message from John McLaughlin, a great friend of Paco, who couldn´t go to Algeciras because he was in Cambodia) and in his burial.
This was the
message sent by John McLaughlin read in English by Michael Stein and translated
into Spanish by Juan José Téllez for all the attendants:
´ Paco was a real man, real in the sense of true to himself, to his music and to everyone else. A passionate man who had a truth and deep understanding of the human condition. All this was related to his music and his marvelous guitar playing. To have worked and played music with him is one of the greatest blessings of my life. And to say I will miss him is a real understatement. In the place where he lives into the heart there´s now an emptiness that will stay with me until I join him ´ . John McLaughlin
´ Paco was a real man, real in the sense of true to himself, to his music and to everyone else. A passionate man who had a truth and deep understanding of the human condition. All this was related to his music and his marvelous guitar playing. To have worked and played music with him is one of the greatest blessings of my life. And to say I will miss him is a real understatement. In the place where he lives into the heart there´s now an emptiness that will stay with me until I join him ´ . John McLaughlin
On his turn, Michael Stein addressed to every attendee inside the Church of La Palma in
Algeciras during the funeral service for Paco de Lucía some words of his own,
also translated by Juan José Téllez:
´ During the
almost 30 years of professional relationship I had with Paco, I had the honour
of knowing this extraordinary man. Beyond the professional bond, he was for me
a friend, a model, almost like a father. I don´t remember how many concerts all
over the world, hotel halls, airports and flights we´ve been together, but
wherever we went he was always welcome. Why? Because he made people happy. Not
only with his music, his humour or because he was a genius. Simply because of
him. When I was alone by the side of the stage while he performed and I could
see the shiny and beautiful faces in the audience, goose bumps when I heard the
first notes of his playings ´ .
Remnants of the
Aguila Old Mill, placed on the intermediate zone of the Track of the Miel River
(which flows at a distance of very few meters) after crossing the Roman Bridge
and the Fountain of the Girls. This highly interesting two storey mill built in
XVIII Century used the water volume of Miel River to move the heavy stones
grinding the wheat grains with which was obtained the indispensable flour for
the manufacture of a top-notch bread, a tradition currently being partially
continued by the Mill of Escalona, still in use, and that even working with
modern machines and electrical engines, gets a 20% of its total energy from a channel
conveying River Miel water to it.
North surroundings of the Old Águila Mill, placed midway through the Track of the River Miel in the Natural Park of the Alcornocales (Algeciras).
Almoraima, the álbum
which meant an essential milestone in the musical evolution of both Paco de
Lucía and Flamenco, technically and thematically going deeper into the way
paved by Niño Ricardo and Sabicas, but transcending them and rising to new
heights, as well as confirming himself as a first-string composer and cover a
number of genres with the themes "Almoraima " (bulería), " La Cueva del Gato " (rondeña), " Cobre " (a sevillana in which his brother Ramón performs as a second
guitar), " A la Perla de Cádiz " (cantina including some choruses of men and women
in the beginning), " Ole " (which to practical effects make up jaleos - a genre fashionable in XIX Century that provided some musical elements to bulerías and soléas- steadily enhancing the 3/4 beat and outstanding liveliness), " Plaza
Alta " (a soleá in which Paco displays his inexhaustible resources and versatility as a guitar
player), " Río Ancho " (one of his most well-known and successful themes, linking
with his mythical " Entre Dos Aguas " of his record Fuente y Caudal with which he
attained a huge international relevance) and Llanos del Real ( a miner song infused
with gorgeous chords and an unatterable creative ability in Paco de Lucía, who
plays in such a way that the final stage of the melody becomes a bulería).
Inner area of
the Old Aguila Mill, located on the intermediate stretch of the Track of the
River Miel in the Natural Park of the Alcornocales (Algeciras), a paradise surprisingly
near the urban zone of his home town and which was often visited by Paco de Lucía during his childhood and teen years.
Rock outcrop
during the final stage of the Track of Miel River in the natural Park of the
Alcornocales (Algeciras), a few hundred meters before getting to the pool of La
Chorrera featuring a waterfall. This wondrous route, which has existed since
the Roman period and had its halcyon days during Medieval times, goes up for
some kilometers until reaching the Luna range, where the river is born, and
walking across it makes up a true relish for senses, because it is dotted with different
species of trees like cork oaks, alders and ferns setting up gallery woods
which catalyze a very distinctive microclimate, while you can hear the flowing
of the limpid waters of the Miel river advancing at very few meters from the
track.
It all, added to his huge expressivity and ability to connect with the listeners and deeply thrill them, without forgetting his huge stature as a composer, turn him into the most important and complete Flamenco guitarist ever.
Miraflores Inn,
founded in 1916. Located near the village of San Roque, around 15 km from
Algeciras. Paco de Lucía often came here with his friends Victoriano Mera, José
Díaz “ Rebolo”, Fosforito and others to have dinner in this historical
Andalusian sancta sanctorum of good meals, Flamenco singing and guitar playing,
mainly during the first half of seventies, a time in which Paco de Lucía began
reaching international fame after the 1973 launching into market of the vynil
stereo 45 rpm single record Fonogram S.A Philips Between Two Waters which became an unprecedented top seller in the
scope of Flamenco guitar, as well as providing the introductory sound with bass
and the use of bangos as a percussion instrument.
Paco sometimes
played the guitar in this historical inn (in which the presence of spies from
different countries was detected during the Second World War) accompanying
Flamenco singers like Manuel mancheño Peña ´ El Turronero ´ with his chords and delighting his buddies
throughout unforgettable nights.
Pool and
Waterfall of La Chorrera (a 5 meter high cascade featuring unutterable beauty,
outstanding roar and roughly 2.5 meters depth), placed in the final section of
the River Miel Track.
Paco de Lucía´s breathtaking musical career comprises nothing less tan 37 albums made throughout almost fifty years, some of them as significant as La Fabulosa Guitarra de Paco de Lucía (1967), Fuente y Caudal (1973), Paco de Lucía en Vivo desde el Teatro Real (recorded on February 18, 1975), Almoraima (1976), Paco de Lucía interpreta a Manuel de Falla (1978), Friday Night in San Francisco with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin (1980), Sólo Quiero Caminar - as Paco de Lucía Sextet- (1981), Siroco (1987) with Ramón de Algeciras, Pepe de Lucía, Rubem Dantas, José María Bandera and Juan Ramírez, Zyriab (1990) with Chick Corea, Manolo Sanlúcar, Carles Benavent, Jorge Pardo, Rubem Dantas, Ramón de Algeciras and Pepe de Lucía, the Concierto de Aranjuez with the Cadaqués Orchestra (1991), Luzia (1998) with Pepe de Lucía and Ramón de Algeciras, Cositas Buenas (2004) with Alejandro Sanz, Diego el Cigala, Tomatito, Juan D´Angellyca, Jerry González and Aláin Pérez, etc.
This extensive musical legacy left by Paco de Lucía, with which he greatly revolutionized Flamenco music, simultaneously managing to keep it strongly supported into its deepest roots, tradition and exceedingly rich cultural values, means a turning point in the history of Flamenco guitar, a pivotal period similar in significance to the one accomplished in the sphere of Jazz by the wonderful LPs of John Coltrane for Impulse! Catalogue, edited between 1961 and 1967 and among which highlight legendary titles like Live at the Village Vanguard (1962), Ballads (1963), Live at Birdland (1964), A Love Supreme (1964), Dear Old Stockholm (1964), Crescent (1964), Transition (1965), OM (1965), Meditations (1965), Sun Ship (1965) and others.
Getares Beach
(Algeciras), another of the beautiful places of this charming Andalusian
village of Cádiz province that witnessed the birth of Paco de Lucía and was
likewise frequently visited by him during his childhood and youth.
The night of December 5, 1980 was held at the Warfield Theatre of San Francisco (United States) the mythical concert Friday Night in San Francisco, in which Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola merged fascinating sounds with instants of supreme virtuosism and stunning guitar solos performed at staggering speed and accuracy, which brought about the rapture among the audience utterly overcrowding the place. During the previous days, at the beginning of the rehearsals, one of the most amazing contexts in the history of the guitar as an instrument at international level happened when the great guitarists of jazz fusion John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola (guitar virtuosos featuring deep musical knowledge – the former had studied at the Berkle College of Music in Boston, had worked in the Chick Corea band throughout two years and would win the Best Guitarist of Jazz Prize awarded by Guitar Player Magazine, while the latter had deep knowledge on eastern music and fusion style, as well as having played with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the violinist Jean-LucPonty, and collaborated with the saxophonist Bill Evans - ) realized astonished that Paco de Lucía lack any musical notion about solfeggio, harmonics, etc (he came from a very humble family and in 1958 had to give up school being 11 years old without ever being able to finish his primary studies, and later, because of the need to daily earn his living he couldn´t go to any conservatory or receiving private classes whatsoever),
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The huge success of acoustic guitar virtuosism displayed by John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía in the first concert Friday Night in San Francisco on December 5, 1980, generated abundant concerts with the three performers playing together all over the world during the following years, as the one celebrated at the Dome Theatre in Brighton (England), once more with massive attendance of audience.
but he was a Mozart of Guitar who through great professionalism, fear of failure, fighting spirit and a brutal level of effort manage to keep pace with them on playing, improvising with the harmonies used by both of them while simultaneously competing at great level through the following second after second with maximum stress of each of the chords preceding the arrival of the next ones, at the end of his tether and with top intensity, since Paco didn´t know to improvise and was unaware about the fact that using one scale he could reach three triads of what they were playing on the stage. It was then when an eternal friendship was born among the three fabulous guitarrists, and this legendary album has sold more than 5,000.000 copies hitherto, an astounding figure in this artistic scope.
Chick Corea, one of the most important musicians in Jazz History and an exceptional world class musician became a great friend of Paco de Lucía since October 2, 1982, when Paco accompanied him playing the guitar in the concert Touchstone held on that date at the Beacon Theatre of New York and in which also excelled the drummer Tom Brechtlein, the percussionist and drummer Don Alias (a great enthusiast of jazz who had played with Dizzy Gillespie being only 18 years old), Carles Benavent (a genius of electric bass, considered one of the most significant virtuosos of this instrument and one of the top driving forces of the New Flamenco, who would highlight among many other feats thanks to his legendary duet with Paco de Lucía " Monastery of Salt " belonging to the album Sólo Quiero Caminar, having worked with Paco for 25 years - including his collaboration in the recording of the album Paco de Lucía performs Manuel de Falla - having also teamed up with Miles Davis), and Steve Kujala (an outstanding American flutist and composer - son of Walfrid Kujala, assistant principal flute and main piccoloist between 1954 and 1958 of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fritz Reiner between 1954 and 1958 when Stereo Orthophonic tapes and Living Stereo LP records in synergy with the recordings made by the RCA sound engineer Lewis Layton on tube amplifiers Ampex 3-track tape recorders Model 300-3 redifined high fidelity, as well as having been flute soloist of that orchestra until 2001 under some conductors like Sir Georg Solti and Seiji Ozawa - and main piccolo flute with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for the last 24 years and one of the greatest worldwide experts within this domain, has taken part in more than 600 original soundtracks of movies and is able to play 14 different ethnic flutes at top-notch level).
Between both of them grew up a great mutual admiration and respect which would subsequently result in a number of concerts working together during the next two decades in different countries, including the historical concert of July 20th, 2013, at the end of which Chick Corea played the piano accompanying Paco de Lucía, adapting to the Flamenco chords, phrasing and intensity changes made by the Magician of Flamenco Guitar.
Arcs of the Old
Aqueduct in El Cobre Quarter (Algeciras).
Dos Guitarras Flamencas en América Latina, edited in 1980 by FONOGRAM S.A, was one of the most successful albums in the professional career of Paco de Lucía, who with his brother and also great guitarist Ramón de Lucía reached very high quality standards within the scope of the stereo hi-fi sound recording.
.+Photo+Jos%C3%A9+Manuel+Serrano+Esparza.jpg)
Cliff of the area of Punta Carnero (Algeciras),
in the surroundings of the reefs.
Legendary Japanese audiophile vinyl LP Sólo Quiero Caminar, manufactured by Nippon Phonogram Co. Ltd. Tokyo in 1981, with excellence parameters in the sound reproduction matching the best SACD discs made more than thirty years later. On the left zone can be see the ´ obi ´ (a word that although meaning ´belt´ in Japanese language, in this kind of vinyl records highly appreciated and coveted by both collectors and enthusiasts of high fidelity in its maximum expression, refers to a 6 cm wide x 31 cm high vertical paper band on far left of the vinyl LP cover featuring a wealth of information on Group or Performer, Album, Catalogue Number, Edition it belongs to, etc).
Japan was one of the countries in which Paco de Lucía raised more success and expectation from the very dawn of its musical career path, to such an extent that the knowledgeable Japanese audiophile pundits (fully aware about the amazing sound quality generated by Paco de Lucía playing the guitar) decided the recording of some vinyl LP records with obi of the Spanish Genius of Guitar through Nippon Phonogram for Philips, like this Sólo Quiero Caminar, accompanied by Pepe de Lucía (vocal), Ramón de Algeciras (2nd guitar), Jorge Pardo (flute and saxophone), Carles Benavent (electric bass) and Rubem Dantas (percussion).
.+Photo+Jos%C3%A9+Manuel+Serrano+Esparza.jpg)
Arcos de la Bajadilla (Algeciras).
Live … One Summer Night, mythical album recorded during some live concerts by the Paco de Lucía Sextet. The hige quality and sound variety boasted by this record (with Paco de Lucía as main guitarist, Ramón de Lucía as second guitarist, Carles Benavent as electric bass, Pepe de Lucías as singer, Jorge Pardo as flute and saxophone and Rubem Dantas as percussionist), made Philips take the decision to edit it both in CD format and vinyl record, the latter made from the digital master and beating the compact disc version in sound quality, so it instantly became a craved item for stereo hi-fi audiophile musical enthusiasts.
Paco de Lucía, Supreme Monarch of Flamenco Guitar. In the background is Gibraltar seen from the vantage
point of Getares Beach during the twilight, while the Moon honours the Wizard
of the Six Strings Sound.
Superb graffiti
made by the artists Pesto and Diako in the Algeciras neighbourhood of El
Rinconcillo, as a homage to Paco de Lucía, with very nice golden letters making
up his name in the middle area and inserting on the left a poem about him
conceived by Felipe “ El Sultán”.
After Paco de Lucía´s passing away, his brother and great Flamenco singer Pepe de Lucía explained:
´ Death hasn´t taken away my brother from me, because I will always have him in my heart and Paco is immortal ´ .
The poet and
great Flamenco pundit Félix Grande commented a lot of times:
Paco de Lucía, considered the Revolutionary of Flamenco Guitar Playing, was able to cross boundaries with his music, taking this art to universal recognition.
When he played the guitar, the sound of those 6 strings became the most beautiful of poems.
And as well as being together with Sabicas the diachronic reference class performer in terms of technique with this instrument, he usually provided chords alien to Flamenco world along with harmonies learnt through his contact and concerts with a number of great jazz masters.
In addition, he was a fervent believer in the irrepeteable nature of the live concert and the audience warmth, and throughout his very long career path he tried with all of his strength and often attained to get them spellbound on their seats, though being aware that it isn´t always feasible that magic arises in a concert and that the player be inspired day in and day out.
In addition, he was a fervent believer in the irrepeteable nature of the live concert and the audience warmth, and throughout his very long career path he tried with all of his strength and often attained to get them spellbound on their seats, though being aware that it isn´t always feasible that magic arises in a concert and that the player be inspired day in and day out.
El Duende
Flamenco de Paco de Lucía, edited in 1972 and eighth album published by The
Maestro, who began to already excel not only as an extraordinary Flamenco
guitarist but also as a composer.
The aim was to get the fusion between the
sonority of Flamenco chords and the tone of an orchestra chosen by Paco in
order that it developed within specific stages the role of a second guitar,
attaining an excellent result, with a splendid Paco de Lucía gifted with an
impressive sense of musical beat, peerless inner strength and colour, it all
wrapped by his famous stratospheric guitar pickings and inimitable strums in
utter symbiosis with such a precision and mastery of rhythm which reveal the
Genius and Icon of Guitar as a real living metronome, as well as showing
glimpses of his renovating spirit in the different falsetas.
And this album
features a golden clasp: the theme “ La Canastera “ , boasting a fascinating
sound resulting from the simultaneous playing of Paco de Lucía, his brother
Ramón de Algeciras (a great guitarist with international background ) and the
orchestra.
Already two years before, in 1970, a 3 years old child called Vicente Amigo (who would be an internationally famous guitarist in future) saw for the first time Paco de Lucía playing the guitar and became enthralled. Years later, the very Paco de Lucía and the also Maestro of Guitar Manolo Sanlúcar would be his teachers and sincere friends in the exceedingly difficult art of playing well this sublime musical instrument.
Already two years before, in 1970, a 3 years old child called Vicente Amigo (who would be an internationally famous guitarist in future) saw for the first time Paco de Lucía playing the guitar and became enthralled. Years later, the very Paco de Lucía and the also Maestro of Guitar Manolo Sanlúcar would be his teachers and sincere friends in the exceedingly difficult art of playing well this sublime musical instrument.
Paco de Lucía´s breathtaking musical career comprises nothing less tan 37 albums made throughout almost fifty years, some of them as significant as La Fabulosa Guitarra de Paco de Lucía (1967), Fuente y Caudal (1973), Paco de Lucía en Vivo desde el Teatro Real (recorded on February 18, 1975), Almoraima (1976), Paco de Lucía interpreta a Manuel de Falla (1978), Friday Night in San Francisco with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin (1980), Sólo Quiero Caminar - as Paco de Lucía Sextet- (1981), Siroco (1987) with Ramón de Algeciras, Pepe de Lucía, Rubem Dantas, José María Bandera and Juan Ramírez, Zyriab (1990) with Chick Corea, Manolo Sanlúcar, Carles Benavent, Jorge Pardo, Rubem Dantas, Ramón de Algeciras and Pepe de Lucía, the Concierto de Aranjuez with the Cadaqués Orchestra (1991), Luzia (1998) with Pepe de Lucía and Ramón de Algeciras, Cositas Buenas (2004) with Alejandro Sanz, Diego el Cigala, Tomatito, Juan D´Angellyca, Jerry González and Aláin Pérez, etc.
This extensive musical legacy left by Paco de Lucía, with which he greatly revolutionized Flamenco music, simultaneously managing to keep it strongly supported into its deepest roots, tradition and exceedingly rich cultural values, means a turning point in the history of Flamenco guitar, a pivotal period similar in significance to the one accomplished in the sphere of Jazz by the wonderful LPs of John Coltrane for Impulse! Catalogue, edited between 1961 and 1967 and among which highlight legendary titles like Live at the Village Vanguard (1962), Ballads (1963), Live at Birdland (1964), A Love Supreme (1964), Dear Old Stockholm (1964), Crescent (1964), Transition (1965), OM (1965), Meditations (1965), Sun Ship (1965) and others.
The night of December 5, 1980 was held at the Warfield Theatre of San Francisco (United States) the mythical concert Friday Night in San Francisco, in which Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola merged fascinating sounds with instants of supreme virtuosism and stunning guitar solos performed at staggering speed and accuracy, which brought about the rapture among the audience utterly overcrowding the place. During the previous days, at the beginning of the rehearsals, one of the most amazing contexts in the history of the guitar as an instrument at international level happened when the great guitarists of jazz fusion John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola (guitar virtuosos featuring deep musical knowledge – the former had studied at the Berkle College of Music in Boston, had worked in the Chick Corea band throughout two years and would win the Best Guitarist of Jazz Prize awarded by Guitar Player Magazine, while the latter had deep knowledge on eastern music and fusion style, as well as having played with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the violinist Jean-LucPonty, and collaborated with the saxophonist Bill Evans - ) realized astonished that Paco de Lucía lack any musical notion about solfeggio, harmonics, etc (he came from a very humble family and in 1958 had to give up school being 11 years old without ever being able to finish his primary studies, and later, because of the need to daily earn his living he couldn´t go to any conservatory or receiving private classes whatsoever),
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but he was a Mozart of Guitar who through great professionalism, fear of failure, fighting spirit and a brutal level of effort manage to keep pace with them on playing, improvising with the harmonies used by both of them while simultaneously competing at great level through the following second after second with maximum stress of each of the chords preceding the arrival of the next ones, at the end of his tether and with top intensity, since Paco didn´t know to improvise and was unaware about the fact that using one scale he could reach three triads of what they were playing on the stage. It was then when an eternal friendship was born among the three fabulous guitarrists, and this legendary album has sold more than 5,000.000 copies hitherto, an astounding figure in this artistic scope.
Chick Corea, one of the most important musicians in Jazz History and an exceptional world class musician became a great friend of Paco de Lucía since October 2, 1982, when Paco accompanied him playing the guitar in the concert Touchstone held on that date at the Beacon Theatre of New York and in which also excelled the drummer Tom Brechtlein, the percussionist and drummer Don Alias (a great enthusiast of jazz who had played with Dizzy Gillespie being only 18 years old), Carles Benavent (a genius of electric bass, considered one of the most significant virtuosos of this instrument and one of the top driving forces of the New Flamenco, who would highlight among many other feats thanks to his legendary duet with Paco de Lucía " Monastery of Salt " belonging to the album Sólo Quiero Caminar, having worked with Paco for 25 years - including his collaboration in the recording of the album Paco de Lucía performs Manuel de Falla - having also teamed up with Miles Davis), and Steve Kujala (an outstanding American flutist and composer - son of Walfrid Kujala, assistant principal flute and main piccoloist between 1954 and 1958 of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fritz Reiner between 1954 and 1958 when Stereo Orthophonic tapes and Living Stereo LP records in synergy with the recordings made by the RCA sound engineer Lewis Layton on tube amplifiers Ampex 3-track tape recorders Model 300-3 redifined high fidelity, as well as having been flute soloist of that orchestra until 2001 under some conductors like Sir Georg Solti and Seiji Ozawa - and main piccolo flute with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for the last 24 years and one of the greatest worldwide experts within this domain, has taken part in more than 600 original soundtracks of movies and is able to play 14 different ethnic flutes at top-notch level).
Between both of them grew up a great mutual admiration and respect which would subsequently result in a number of concerts working together during the next two decades in different countries, including the historical concert of July 20th, 2013, at the end of which Chick Corea played the piano accompanying Paco de Lucía, adapting to the Flamenco chords, phrasing and intensity changes made by the Magician of Flamenco Guitar.
Dos Guitarras Flamencas en América Latina, edited in 1980 by FONOGRAM S.A, was one of the most successful albums in the professional career of Paco de Lucía, who with his brother and also great guitarist Ramón de Lucía reached very high quality standards within the scope of the stereo hi-fi sound recording.
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Legendary Japanese audiophile vinyl LP Sólo Quiero Caminar, manufactured by Nippon Phonogram Co. Ltd. Tokyo in 1981, with excellence parameters in the sound reproduction matching the best SACD discs made more than thirty years later. On the left zone can be see the ´ obi ´ (a word that although meaning ´belt´ in Japanese language, in this kind of vinyl records highly appreciated and coveted by both collectors and enthusiasts of high fidelity in its maximum expression, refers to a 6 cm wide x 31 cm high vertical paper band on far left of the vinyl LP cover featuring a wealth of information on Group or Performer, Album, Catalogue Number, Edition it belongs to, etc).
Japan was one of the countries in which Paco de Lucía raised more success and expectation from the very dawn of its musical career path, to such an extent that the knowledgeable Japanese audiophile pundits (fully aware about the amazing sound quality generated by Paco de Lucía playing the guitar) decided the recording of some vinyl LP records with obi of the Spanish Genius of Guitar through Nippon Phonogram for Philips, like this Sólo Quiero Caminar, accompanied by Pepe de Lucía (vocal), Ramón de Algeciras (2nd guitar), Jorge Pardo (flute and saxophone), Carles Benavent (electric bass) and Rubem Dantas (percussion).
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Live … One Summer Night, mythical album recorded during some live concerts by the Paco de Lucía Sextet. The hige quality and sound variety boasted by this record (with Paco de Lucía as main guitarist, Ramón de Lucía as second guitarist, Carles Benavent as electric bass, Pepe de Lucías as singer, Jorge Pardo as flute and saxophone and Rubem Dantas as percussionist), made Philips take the decision to edit it both in CD format and vinyl record, the latter made from the digital master and beating the compact disc version in sound quality, so it instantly became a craved item for stereo hi-fi audiophile musical enthusiasts.
It must be also
highlighted the high degree of seamless interaction among the musicians, all of
them performing at top level and who manage to generate a sound blend between
vanguard Flamenco rythms and Latin Jazz.
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With the album Siroco launched into record market in 1987, Paco de Lucía outperforms himself again and treads even more avant-garde new directions in the realm of Flamenco creation in all of its formal, armonic, melodic and rhythmical.
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With the album Siroco launched into record market in 1987, Paco de Lucía outperforms himself again and treads even more avant-garde new directions in the realm of Flamenco creation in all of its formal, armonic, melodic and rhythmical.
After a lot of
years of international music tours with the Sextet, Siroco means a return to
Flamenco essence with the guitar as a main instrument, supported by Rubem
Dantas percussion, his brothers Pepe de Lucía (vocal), Ramón de Lucía (2nd
guitar), José María Bandera and the dancer Juan Ramírez.
Needless to say
that once more it became apparent Paco de Lucía´s huge gift as a composer able
to spawn masterworks, along with a great honesty and allegiance to his core
values and principles, a steadfast constant during his professional trajectory
in which he never rested on his laurels, always making different records, taking
Flamenco to almost unthinkable heights, since after the Spanish Civil War and
the hard postwar which particularly ravaged Andalusia and Extremadura, that
ancient popular art had been rather consigned to the range of private parties
and all kind of celebrations, and the guitar was mostly deemed as a mere
supporting instrument for the singers, something which changed completely after
the emergence of Paco de Lucía, who took the helm from Niño Ricardo and Sabicas
and raised Flamenco guitar to its highest peaks of known prominence hitherto,
providing it with an astounding expressive ability, because he was able to make it
sing and reached the most hidden emotional boundaries of his listeners.
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Cove of Getares
(Algeciras) with Gibraltar in the background.
Zyriab, an album
edited in 1990 and made up by 8 themes (Soniquete - bulerías- , Tío Sabas - tarantas
- , Chick, Compadres - bulerías-, Zyriab, Canción de Amor, Playa del Carmen - rumba
- and Almonte - fandangos from Huelva – is one of the compositive summits in
Paco de Lucía´s career and was created to pay homage to Abu Hassan Ali ibn
Nafi, an outstanding innovating musician who lived during the fisrt half of IX
Century, turning into the most important performer in the court of Abderraman
II in Cordoba, and whose huge talent and versatility enabled the development of
Andalusian music inspired by Arab, Jewish and Mesopotamic sources, together
with some elements borrowed from the ancient Indian music, as well as having
been the inventor of the fifth string for the ´oud ´ instrument.
Zyriab is a real
masterpiece, full of intensity, spell, enthrallment, evocation of a millenary cultural
and musical Andalusia, melodic strength and flawless guitar playing by a
splendid Paco de Lucía.
It all is
specially tangible in the theme 5. Zyriab giving name to the album (and in
which the synergy between Paco de Lucía´s magical fingers playing the guitar,
Chick Corea with the piano and the superb flute support by Jorge Pardo beget an
unutterable and exotic sonic fabric and rhythm leading into the climax with
lightning chords between 05:30 and 06:15) and in the 6. Canción de Amor (poetry
at its purest form from beginning to end, in which the genius guitarist puts
his heart and soul in this sublime music altogether).
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Rocky outcrop
and flowers in the most western area of Getares Beach (Algeciras).
After Paco de Lucía´s passing away, his brother and great Flamenco singer Pepe de Lucía explained:
´ Death hasn´t taken away my brother from me, because I will always have him in my heart and Paco is immortal ´ .
PACO DE LUCÍA DOESN´T PLAY
LIKE PERSONS
And even once,
after listening to him play in a concert, he wrote regarding the Master of Masters of Flamenco Guitar:
´ The music of
the Flamenco artist speaks about a touching earthquake, a sudden eternity or an
infinite thunderbolt; our hearts become a solitary tower which is steadfastly
visited from the bottom of time by the instants of our lives, a tremendous covey
of black and white doves flying towards the tower, attending an appointment
inextricably being a party, a rite and a moan, plugging the hole of death with
a glitter of absolute truth ´
© Text and Photos: José Manuel Serrano Esparza
