‘Tierra de nadie’, second album by the guitarist Juan de Pilar
Juan de Pilar acknowledges that his playing is not as fast as it used to be, and he now focuses more on conveying feeling. «In flamenco, guitar is what evolves the most. More than cante or baile. If we’re not careful, we become obsolete», he says.
Not one. Not two or three, but eight. Eight is how many years have taken the guitarist from Valencia Juan de Pilar to release his second solo album. It’s titled Tierra de nadie (No man’s Land) and it was made as he liked, on low heat, surrounded by his usual musicians –David Cano ‘El Chicho’, Juan José Amador, Dani de Francisco– and a few more surprises. It will be presented on May 1st, 2019 at Valencia’s Teatre Talía.
“The second album is the confirmation of an artist. I notice my maturity in the fact that I don’t play as fast as I used to: when we’re young, we’re in a rush. There’s no need for it. If the master Paco de Lucía was able to give up that musician’s vanity, it was for a reason. The important thing is to convey feeling”, explains this artist in an interview published in El Mundo newspaper.
Tierra de nadie has ten tracks and includes some twenty voices from a youth choir por alegrías. Besides, Juan Pilar has surrounded himself with several musicians, from the usual Óscar de Manuel (flute), Sergio Martínez or David Gadea (percussion) to other flamenco names such as Rafael de Utrera or María del Mar, daughter of Currichi.
Almost two years ago, when he was in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), this guitarist from Valencia was playing para baile in a flamenco venue for tourists. It was there where, slowly but surely, he started to come up with each track of this album until he managed to extract from himself exactly how much he wanted.
“We get into a room and think: ‘I’ll compose something’. Then we stop and wonder if we really have anything to say, and two years may go by until we’re finally convinced that we do”, states this guitarist.
Juan’s career spans more than twenty years, and he’s been playing the guitar since he was fifteen years old, three or four days per week. Today he’s in Paris, tomorrow he’s in Rome, the day after no one knows. Now he pauses to present this second album and it’s time to enjoy his Tierra de nadie.
“In flamenco, guitar is what evolves the most. More than cante or baile. If we’re not careful, we become obsolete. We have to keep studying”, concludes Juan de Pilar.
Photo: Juan de Pilar official fan page (Facebook)
