Over the years I’ve heard bits and pieces of music featuring spanish guitar. I’ve loved what I’ve heard but never knew what albums or artists I should look into for more. I’ve heard some mariachi cds, but that’s not exactly what I’m looking for.
Any suggestions?
My old friend allmusic.com wasn’t very helpful this time…
The Gypsy Kings are a good start. The album “Gypsy Kings” is a great one.
I have to agree with Bill and say Gypsy Kings is a good start. I don’t know where you live, but check out any music store that has a strong “World Music” section–they should have others there, too.
My mother owns a 2 album set that was recorded in the 60’s called “Flamenco Guitar–Manitas de Plata” released by Connoisseur Society Recording (which was a branch of the old Book of the Month Club). The guy, Manitas de Plata (his nickname, which means “silver hands” in Spanish), refused to come to the US to record, so this company went to record him in the South of France–and it was worth it. I doubt you’ll be able to find a copy of this, so if you’d like me to make a tape, I’ll be happy to make you one.
Carlos Montoya–anything by Carlos Montoya
It depends on what you are looking for. As a classical guitarist I would suggest that you look up some Villa-Lobos (he is South American but should be what you are looking for). I would suggest his Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra.
Also, Rodrigo is quite nice. His Concerto D’Aranjeuz (sp?) is wonderful and one of the most beautiful pieces in classical guitar literature.
Manuel Barrueco (incidently I took a master class with him) or Pepe Romero would be good suggestions for Spanish/Hispanic classical guitarists. Actually almost any of the Romeros would be good.
There is a predominance of Spanish classical guitar music out there. You should have a really easy time finding something that you like. One other suggestion for composers would be Manuel De Falla. If you heard Sally’s Song from the Nightmare Before Christmas and liked it, you would like Manuel De Falla since Danny Elfman pretty much stole the music verbatem from him. He just arranged it differently. Manuel De Falla has many classical guitar pieces out there and should be quite enjoyable.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Thanks so much, guys!
I’ll have to hit the record store and see what I can dig up now that I have some names. Thanks again.
bri
[hyjack]Hey, Bri, did you catch the Buena Vista Social Club on PBS? As I am no longer blessed with cable, I caught the previews for it, and it looks pretty rockin’. [/hyjack]
Darn it! I wanted to catch the Buenavista Social Club but I missed it!
If you like guitar music all the Spanish classics mentioned are good.
For a slightly more modern and latin American approach try a CD called “Americas” by Strunz and Farah.
Another guitar favorite of mine is “One thousand and one nights” by a duo from the DC area, Shahin Shahida and Sepehr Haddad.
I have posted samples of both here. (about 230 KB each or a couple of minutes to download each)
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Armik!?!
In my CD case of ten essentials, Armik’s Isla Del Sol is in there.
No vocals. All guitar. I am sure if you go to CDNOW, they’ll have short samples of his work. Check them out.
ArchMichael
For absolutely brilliant Spanish-inspired guitar (and it takes a real aficionado to tell the difference in most of his pieces), you cannot go wrong with Ottmar Liebert. His pedigree is kind of strange: He’s a German who studied guitar for years, moved to the States and started studying flamenco.
Weird or not, he’s absolutely brilliant. You will never regret picking up a copy of his Noveau Flamenco, particularly the 10 Anniversary edition.
Ditto that. Also, both Christopher Parkening and Liona Boyd are excellent classical guitarists (albeit non-Spanish) who both have some Spanish guitar recordings out.
For good flamenco music, see if you can find “Passion and Soul” by Gino D’Auri. I have that and it’s an incredible album.
FTR, I didn’t like the Gypsy Kings album that I got. I think it was because it had a lot of songs like Volare, so it just sounded cheesy to me.
On a tangent, if you like Spanish music like Gypsy Kings, check out a group called Alabina - they are a fusion of Spanish and Arabic and it works really, really well.
Zyada said, “…they are a fusion of Spanish and Arabic and it works really, really well…”
That is because the guitar/lute were originally Arabic instruments brought first to Spain in the middle ages. Many of the flamenco techniques were originally Arabic in origin. The polyphonic music and chords were a Spanish/more western addition to the stringed instruments repertoire.
If you like New Age music, Ottmar Leibert is good for a pseudo-flamenco type of sound. Other musicians mentioned earlier are better for that.
Two other classical guitarists who plays a lot of Spanish Guitar are Julian Bream and John Williams (the guitarist, not the composer… no, they aren’t the same person). You really can’t go wrong with either of them. I remember seeing them both doing Spanish compilations. You can check your local music store and they will definately know which ones to suggest to you. I have many but I can’t think of the name of the various compilations off hand. I believe one was called the Romantic Guitar. It featured all Spanish composers and was quite beautiful for solo guitar.
HUGS!
Sqrl
If you can find any recordings of Segovia try them out.
He pretty much defined the instrument for over 40years.
Better still put his name into a search engine and read about his importance to modern day music.
There is a deal about Segovia. He popularized the instrument by getting popular composers of the time to write for it. Not many of the composers could actually play it though (Benjamin Britten is an example). There were many Spanish composers who wrote for him. This said, he did a miraculous job of making the guitar a classical concert instrument rather than being a folk type instrument meant to accompany back street bar singers. Segovia himself, who does play quite well, does not actually have the facility of the instruement that many of the modern guitarists have with the instrument. He was the first to popularize the instrument and thus had many new pieces composed for it but was not necessarily the best. To some classical guitarists, this seems sacreligious but it is really a common consensus. He often forgot whole sections of music in performances (you never hear those because the ones with the most serious mistakes were never released to the public. My guitar teacher who studied under Segovia for a bit had some bootlegs of him playing where he makes many mistakes in a performance…not a rehearsal.). With that said, most of what you can buy with Segovia playing doesn’t have his mistakes. There is a magical editing procedure that studios can do called “punching in” which in essence means that the performer only has to play a few lines at a time and can perfect that part and then continue. It was very disheartening hearing one of my childhood heroes playing as poorly as he did in those concerts. His tone was not even up to par even taking into the degradation of magnetic tape. Julian Bream in my opinion has the best tone of any guitarist out there and also has a wonderful technique to back it up.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Jeez, Sqrl…
Learn a little about guitar, whydontcha?
Seriously, thanks for all the info. I’ll be lookin into them.
bri
I have a degree in classical guitar. I have been studying for about 12 years. I am sure most posters can attest to my knowledge of the instrument. I will never post any information to you again.
Sqrl
Sqrl said
No No No!
Did I sound snotty? I’m sorry.
I was just a little blown away by your vast knowledge of the subject.
I honestly didn’t expect much info and I got an expert’s opinion.
If I sounded ungrateful, please accept my humble apologies.
:
:
seriousart
Your apologies are accepted. There is a problem with written speech and a problem discerning inflection. I am pretty much a literalist when I read something without emoticons. I am sorry that I took it wrong but to me it looked seriously wrong.
You will get a hug.
HUGS!
Sqrl