Paco de Lucia was born in 1947 began studying the guitar as a child, and started his career as a professional guitar player at the age of thirteen with Jose Greco’s flamenco dance company. Paco spent much of his time locked in his room practicing on his guitar.

The most obvious result to friends and family of Paco’s devotion to his music was the emergence of a blindingly fast picado technique. Picado is the name for the rest stroke used by flamenco guitar players to play scale passages. This fast picking was heavily featured in Paco de Lucia’s early flamenco guitar records and concerts. Paco also began making use of his interest in jazz to bring some new sounds to flamenco guitar solos.

For many years Flamenco guitar solo playing was dominated by Sabicas who drew heavily on the works of Spanish classical music composers for his falsetas – the themes used to make up flamenco guitar solos and instrumental breaks in flamenco ensemble performances. Paco de Lucia made a break from the influence of Sabicas, sparking a new interest in flamenco guitar playing from a generation of young Spanish men who had been more interested in American music than flamenco.

Paco de Lucia spent the years 1969 to 1977 playing and recording with the legendary flamenco singer Cameron de la Isla. The whole of Spain fell under the spell of Cameron’s unique singing style and Paco’s time with him produced a collection of unforgettable records and videos.

In 1979 Paco de Lucia toured with jazz guitarists John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell. The power of Paco’s guitar playing in his performances with these jazz greats is recorded in a video called Meeting Of The Spirits. Paco is on record telling of his struggles to learn how to improvise in order to keep up with his fellow guitarists.

This trio of guitar virtuosos was finalized when Al Dimeola replaced Larry Coryell and they have continued to perform together. Paco also performs with his own jazz influenced group, the Paco De Lucia Sextet. The wider audience of music lovers was exposed to the beauty of Paco De Lucia’s flamenco guitar playing in 1995 when he played on Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? by Bryan Adams.

In the early nineteen seventies Paco recorded a double album of the works of Spanish composer Manuel De Falla. This was not particularly well received but his 1991 performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez gave Paco some street cred with classical guitar fans.

The fuzzy boundaries of tradition
No sensible person would try to define where traditional ends and modern begins. Sabicas played traditional music but he also played some pretty unusual stuff that could hardly be defined as flamenco. However, I think it would be fair to say that before Paco de Lucia introduced his sextet to the world, complete with flutes, bongos and fretless electric bass, the average person on the street had a rough idea of what flamenco was about. Not any more.

Although I enjoy listening to the more modern interpretations of traditional forms by genuine flamenco artists such as Paco de Lucia and Gerardo Nunez, at the end of the day I still prefer the older stuff. This provides a reference that is, for the most part, unashamedly standard in it’s presentation.

As a guitarist with only a simple wooden box in my hand, it becomes increasingly more difficult to relate to some of the lavish productions released on CD these days. Having said that, I am irresistibly drawn to listen to this modern style of flamenco anyway. Compared to the mind boggling technical abilities of these modern guitar players I am just a struggling amateur. Humbling as it is to listen to this stuff, I draw great inspiration from it all. But it’s sometimes easy to forget that without the work of the past masters to act as guide, modern flamenco would never have evolved into what it is today. So much for the ongoping evolution of traditional flamenco.

New flamenco
What about the other stuff that is erroneously referred to as ‘New Flamenco.’ What is promoted by main stream music companies as flamenco is an entirely different animal. These days the word flamenco is loosely attached to any sort of Latin pop by artists like the Gipsy Kings, Armik and such. While I give full credit to these successful artists and acknowledge their talent, I have an issue with the manner in which these artists are promoted. The exotic form of fusion lounge music played by Ottmat Liebert and similar artists is also openly promoted as flamenco in music stores. I don’t know about you, but this laid back supermarket music makes me think of coconut trees and footprints in the sand. I have no idea what the flamenco connection is supposed to be.

And yet real flamenco CDs, if you can find them at all, are relegated to the World music section or some other obscure category. There is nothing bad or evil or wrong with the so called ‘New Flamenco’ of today. It is all good music and worth listening to, but it is certainly NOT real flamenco by any stretch of the imagination, and never will be.

Here’s a question
How come I keep hearing this so called ‘New Flamenco’ piped through tinny speakers in elevators and shopping malls? Fair enough. It’s good background music and it’s soothing. But I cannot remember the last time I heard real flamenco artists like Sabicas or Paco de Lucia in an elevator.

The bottom line is that the word flamenco sounds exotic and sells CDs for promoters and recording companies who have brainwashed the general public with their misinformed hype. But this is not about them. The point is that the traditional flamenco roots from which these modern artists draw their inspiration will always be there. You can try to change public perception about flamenco and you can even attempt to re-define the word, but you can’t change history.

Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) September 8, 2004

Neglecting child-hood play, Eli grew an interest for the flamenco guitar when his brother was taking lessons. He followed in his brother’s influence and took up guitar lessons himself in his native Israel. He grew up to form a band that played at several different venues all over the country. While traveling through different parts of the world with the Israeli army as a musician, he was able to gain the experience he needed to establish himself as a recording guitar player, composer and arranger-making him an all around artist.

Upon his return to Israel, he formed a duo for eight years at which he was able to cement his singing and performing abilities. Now living in the United States, he has been able to compose four albums including his newest release- Collection.

If you would like further information about Eli Naim or for bookings, please contact Elite Entertainment.

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