{"id":310,"date":"2024-01-19T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revistanew\/2024\/01\/19\/pacos-fanboys\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:30:08","slug":"pacos-fanboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/pacos-fanboys\/","title":{"rendered":"Paco\u2019s fanboys","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Paco de Luc\u00eda<\/strong> once told me over the phone, as we discussed a controversy about Camar\u00f3n<\/strong>\u2018s royalties, that he had contacted me because he had been told I was not a big fan of him. \u201cI want to talk to you precisely because of your objectivity\u201d, he told me, because he did not like fanboys. He was also aware of my admiration for Manolo Sanl\u00facar<\/strong>, whom he loved like a brother, although I know for a fact that sometimes he could not stand \u201chis issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday I heard a well-known contemporary guitarist say that \u201cPaco was the one who gave renown to the flamenco guitar\u201d, or something to that effect, and I was shocked. It is like when someone says that Marchena<\/strong> or Mairena<\/strong> took cante<\/em> out of the taverns and \u201cmade it stylish\u201d or \u201ctook it into the universities\u201d. Or when they talk about \u201cdignifying flamenco\u201d, something that is almost always attributed to the great Antonio Mairena. What are we supposed to make, then, of Silverio<\/strong>, Chac\u00f3n, Ni\u00f1a de los Peines<\/strong> and Manuel Vallejo<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am bothered by these lies, which then morph into truths, and then everyone loses. Stating that Paco was the one who gave renown to the flamenco guitar, for example, is an insult to intelligence and, above all, a mockery to all those who gave it prestige and prominence. Juli\u00e1n Arcas, Paco el Barbero, Paco el de Lucena, Ram\u00f3n Montoya, Sabicas<\/strong> and Ricardo<\/strong> elevated the quality of the Andalusian guitar, making it known all over the world, and yet few seem to remember them now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00abLet us leave aside the fanatism. I never heard Paco claim he was the best, and the same goes for Camar\u00f3n, Morente or Lebrijano. Let\u2019s not forget that they were not gods, but humans made of flesh and bone\u00bb<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Later, Mario Escudero, Est\u00e9ban de Sanl\u00facar, Pepe Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> and Serranito<\/strong> succeeded in making the flamenco guitar universally known, and it was from this revolution that Manolo Sanl\u00facar and Paco de Luc\u00eda, the greatest guitarists in flamenco history, came out. Others, such as Paco Cepero<\/strong> and Ni\u00f1o Miguel<\/strong>, came out like flowers blossoming among stones on the street. Have you ever walked on a cobbled street and seen how flowers bloom among the stones?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can I possibly not be a fan of Paco de Luc\u00eda? I am, to the bone, but I am not a fanboy. It is not a secret that my favorite guitar player was always Manolo Sal\u00facar, who was never known for dizzying picados<\/em>, vintage-soaked strumming or late-night pellizcos<\/em>. For that, I always preferred Diego del Gastor, Manuel Morao<\/strong> or Melchor de Marchena<\/strong>. And for melodies that made me cry of sadness or made me love life, Paco Cepero, whom I adore and revere since I was a teenager.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not love Paco de Luc\u00eda for anything in particular, but for all of his incredible combination of qualities. Paco did not teach, he didn\u2019t undertake research, he could not be bothered with tiresome studies and analysis. All his life, he just focused on playing the guitar like no one had ever played it. He was the great revolutionary of the flamenco guitar, just like Camar\u00f3n de la Isla was the great revolutionary of cante flamenco<\/em>. The fact that I prefer Morente<\/strong> to Camar\u00f3n does not mean that I look down on the genius from Isla de Le\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let us leave aside the fanatism. I never heard Paco claim he was the best, and the same goes for Camar\u00f3n, Morente or Lebrijano. Let\u2019s not forget that they were not gods, but humans made of flesh and bone. The most fanatical fans of Antonio Mairena have greatly harmed his reputation, although Mairena himself fed the beast. We can say the same about the fans of Camar\u00f3n, although he himself never fed any beast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTraslated by Paul Young<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image above: Cover image of the documentary \u2018Paco de Luc\u00eda la busqueda\u2019<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I do not love Paco de Luc\u00eda for anything in particular, but for all of his incredible combination of qualities. Paco did not teach, he didn\u2019t undertake research, he could not be bothered with tiresome studies and analysis. All his life, he just focused on playing the guitar like no one had ever played it<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":7,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"","type":"","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[],"bad":[],"score_override":"","override_value":"","rating":[],"price":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[227],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bordonazo","tag-flamenco","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}