Here is an excellent little BBC performance and interview with Juan Martin.
This is not strictly solo. We have here a singer, dancer and a clarinet. Clarinet? Er...well, not bad actually. Certainly better than the experiments I've heard with the flute in Flamenco music. Don't care much for those.
The Flamenco guitar method mentioned in the interview can be found HERE on Amazon. As a beginner in Flamenco I have found it to be a good purchase. Tons of music to learn and all of played by Martin on the included CD, full speed and slowly. The only issue with it is his rasgueo. I don't know if it is the exaggerated effort of playing them so that the beginner can better hear what is happening with the technique or what. But it is terrible. Oh well. As you will hear here, there is nothing wrong with his performance technique. The book covers all the beginner topics including the care of the nails. Here's a passage from the book.
"It is vitally important not to expose nails to the drying action of detergents and soaps. Washing up is out of the question."Hilarious! I would love to meet the man but will probably refrain from shaking hands. Well, Boulder saw a very successful show with Paco Pena, I sure would enjoy hearing Juan Martin. Come on out Mr. Martin!
Get the show HERE!
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| Hmmm...doctored picture or has someone been "washing up?" Mighty clean looking hands for, what, 50 years of dirt? |
I've been playing Flamenco now for about 6 or 7 years - sometimes religiously, other times less intensely - and Volume I of Martin's method book was the first book I bought. I now have Volume II, and I have yet to consume all there is to learn in both books. I've bought other Flamenco books over the years, but this is hands down the best. Another good one for learning rasgueado is The Art of Rasgueado by a guitarist named Ioannis Anastassakis.
ReplyDeleteSaw Martin play a solo set in a small club once when I lived in Austin. It was amazing.
In British vernacular, "washing up" means to wash dishes in the sink by hand with dish detergent.
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