Rene Heredia - Alborada Flamenca

Scalding flamenco from one of Sabicas' students.




“The guitar playing of René Heredia is in the finest tradition of flamenco, creating a flaming intensity that cannot fail to arouse.”  —Denver Post


“If any musician on the local Denver scene deserves the moniker of legend, it would have to be René Heredia. Simply put, the man is a living history of the art of Gypsy flamenco guitar. He is both a link to its glorious past through his early association with legendary greats such as Carlos Montoya and Sabicas, and a bridge to its future through his love of teaching and performance…. René Heredia is an artist who is as passionate about the music as the music is itself…. René is a local artist of international stature … without a doubt, one of the greatest proponents of flamenco guitar music alive today….” —Classically Speaking, Music for All


“René Heredia is the most sensational young flamenco guitarist in the United States.” —Sabicas


“The audience wouldn’t let him quit.” —Los Angeles Times


“René Heredia is a brilliant guitarist.” —Walter Terry, New York Saturday Review

René with Sabicas

René and his Flamenco guitar have been together for so many years of his lifetime that there seems to be no separation of the two.  He formed a bond with the guitar as a child.  His life, his character, his loves and aspirations have all developed through the instrument.


He began his training with his father, a Gitano Puro (pure Gypsy).  As a boy, René was taught the rudiments of Flamenco Guitar and Spanish Gypsy Dance.  He brings a unique view of both sides of the art form to his audience. 


As a little boy, René remembers always having the house full of flamencos such as Carlos Montoya, Vicente Escudero, Mario Escudero, José Greco’s dance Company, Carmen Amaya, Sabicas, La Chunga and her Company.  They were\all close friends of José Heredia and his family.  Sabicas would help and teach René the secrets of Flamenco at his mother’s kitchen table.


At thirteen, he was performing with his sisters, Fátima, Sarita, Zoraida, Carmen, and brother Enrique.  “Los Heredia” were doing concerts, television shows and supper club performances.  His international recognition came when he was seventeen and the incomparable Flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya (Spain’s greatest dancer of this century) heard him play.  She immediately took him to be her lead guitarist.  He toured many years doing concerts in the major capitals of Europe and the United States with the famous Amaya Ballet.  While he was in Spain, René was invited to perform with the singing and motion picture star Antoñita Moreno, in “Los Reinos de España”.  He was then invited to perform in the Festival de Cante Grande with Fosforito, Jarrito, Juanito Varea, Chocolate, and Gordito de Triana; some of Spain’s most outstanding singers.  As his reputation grew, the famous Spanish dancer José Greco invited him to be his lead guitarist for several seasons.  René has played for such outstanding dancers as El Güito, Mario Maya, Los Pelaos, Manuela Vargas, Luisita Triana, María Rosa, Ciros, Rosa Montoya, Lutys de Luz, María Benitez, Los Heredia, and many more.


While living in Paris, René’s distinguished L.P. album, Alborada Flamenca, was awarded the Gran Prix de Disque of France.  In the United States, René was invited to perform the world premiere of his symphony composition and Flamenco suite for Guitar and Orchestra “Alborada Gitana”(a Farruca), which he performed with the Denver Symphony and Denver Chamber Orchestra at Red Rocks Amphitheater.


René has performed live concerts and T.V. shows with his Flamenco Fusion Group and his Flamenco Fantasy Dance Theatre.  He performed solo concerts at such prestigious venues as New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall four years in a row, where he received standing ovations; the Champs Elysee Theatre in Paris; Westminster Theatre in London; Teatro Barcelona; Teatro La Zarzuela and Teatro Maravilla in Madrid, Spain; and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.


René has performed concerts with his Flamenco Fantasy Dance Theatre in Kansas City, where he was awarded the “Keys to the City”  (sister city of Seville, Spain).  He was recognized as one of Colorado’s best-known composers in a special tribute to Colorado artists at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.


René was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Award of Colorado for excellence in performance and education, as well as the Mayor’s Award of Denver for excellence in the arts.  He has done command performances for such dignitaries as Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Armand Hammer, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, Queen Noor of Jordan, and Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.


René was invited to be the lead guitarist and guest artist with Stewart Copeland, founder of “The Police” in his national tour of the U.S.A. in “The Rhythmatists”.  René was invited by Colorado Performing Arts Center to be the musical director for the play “Romeo and Juliet” (set to early colonial California).


René has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show with Duke Ellington, The Steve Allen Show with Sabicas, and The Art Linkletter Show with Donald O’Connor and Abbie Laine, The George Goble and Eddie Fisher Show with Carmen Amaya, and The Ann Southern Show with César Romero.  René appeared in the Spanish Movie “Balcón de Luna” with Paquita Rico, Carmen Sevilla, and Lola Flores.  His N.E.T. concert specials and opening acts for such outstanding artists as Bill Cosby, Hal Linden, and Peter Nero have put René in the forefront as one of the leading Flamenco Guitarists in the United States today.   

Rene Heredia - Alborada Flamenca

Label: Gypsy Productions, Inc.

Tracks: see below

sizzle, my nizzle.

mp3 >256vbr | w/ scans | 76mb

*out-of-print & impossible to find

Ramón Montoya - Recital de guitarra flamenca

There was some interest aroused by Sabicas as to the roots of Flamenco guitar. Thanks to Miguel, we can go straight to the source

"He may be considered the creator of the flamenco concert guitar, because in spite of the decent but few predecessors that existed, he was responsible for the incorporation and improvement of all the mechanisms that are known at present". - José Blas Vega.

wikinfo:
Ramón Montoya (November 2, 1880, Madrid, Spain – June 20, 1949, Madrid, Spain), Flamenco guitarist and composer.

Born into a family of Gitano (Romani) cattle traders, Ramón Montoya used earnings from working in the trade to buy his first guitar. He began playing in the cafés de cante before he was twenty years of age.

He formed a partnership with the flamenco cantaor (singer) Antonio Chacón since 1912 that lasted for more than a decade. These two were largely responsible for establishing the form of the various traditional flamenco cantes that are recognized today.

In traditional flamenco, the guitar was relegated to a supporting role. Cante (singing) and baile (dance) were the main performers whom the guitarist supported. Montoya was one of the first to challenge this role. His strong playing often overpowered the singer whom he accompanied. He eventually took the next logical step and began to play as a solo or lead performer in a concert setting. His performances are widely credited by flamenco historians as establishing the flamenco guitar in this role.

He was the single most influential flamenco guitarist of the 20th century. His innovations made possible the solo careers of such later greats as Sabicas, Paco de Lucía and Tomatito.

Uncle of Carlos Montoya.

Ramón Montoya is one of the timeless masters of the flamenco guitar. He has been an authentic teacher for guitarists like Paco de Lucía, Niño Ricardo and Sabicas, and he continues to serve that function for young tocaores of the present generation. All of the palos (forms) that he played still bear his imprint and the numerous features that he introduced and were unknown before him are still in use today, fifty years after his death.

He showed his skill at accompanying dancing and singing very precociously, a skill that allowed him to work with Juan Breva, Niño de Marchena, Salud Rodríguez, Antonio de Bilbao, La Macarrona and La Niña de los Peines in the café cantantes in Madrid, where he played for many years. Nonetheless, the person with whom he formed the best artistic partnership was Antonio Chacón, “the master of all the flamenco cantes”, in the words of Montoya himself, who he performed with for fifteen years.

Another great contribution made by Ramón Montoya to the flamenco guitar was that of introducing guitar concerts. Until that moment, guitarists had only made few and not very significant attempts to play the guitar as an instrument for solo concerts, without accompanying singing or dancing. It was in this facet that Montoya travelled around Europe and America, as a solo artist.


Ramón Montoya - Recital de guitarra flamenca
Primera Epoca Anos 1910-20

Year: 2003
Label: Fods Records

Tracks:
1. Soleares
2. Seguiriyas
3. Bulerias
4. Tangos
5. Farrucas
6. Guajiras
7. Malagueñas
8. Mineras
9. Rondeñas
10. Granaínas
11. Fandangos
12. Alegrías

scratchy and beautiful.
mp3 320kbps | w/ scans | 93mb

thanks miguel!

you want more? head over to Flamanco a Palo Seco, the mother of all flamenco blogs.

Sabicas - Recital de Guitarra Flamenca, Vols. 1-3

Thanks to the generous contributions of Miguel, we present you with 3 more discs of Sabicas! These are his vintage recordings, and they are superb. I'm pretty sure the discs were only released in Spain, so you can grab them without guilt!

Sabicas - Recital de guitarra flamenca. Vol. 1
Grabaciones de 1930-1940.

1993 Fonografica Del Sur 7019

The first volume of a compilation that covers the historical evolution of the guitar master. It includes recordings from the early period, between 1930 and 1940, a period during which the Spanish Civil War sent Sabicas into exile, and which represented a point of inflection for both his artistic and personal trajectories. In these years he travelled all over South America with the bailaora Carmen Amaya. His speed and clean execution surprised every audience. The technique of his right hand was supplemented by the meter and depth of flamenco.

Tracks:
1. Granaína
2. Farruca
3. Soleares
4. Garrotín
5. Rondeñas
6. Seguirillas
7. Tarantas
8. Alegrías
9. Malagueñas
10. Fandangos

Sabicas - Recital de guitarra flamenca. Vol. 2
Grabaciones de 1930-1940.

1993 Fonografica Del Sur 7037

The second volume of this compilation, which summarises the decade during which Sabicas experienced a radical change. His work accompanying the best cantaores of the time helped him to conceive a more personal form of guitar playing, with an unmistakeable technique. The freedom that he sought through his exile found its expression in the guitar.

Tracks:
1. Capricho Andaluz
2. Zapateado
3. Caleta y el limonar
4. Mosaico tropical
5. Bulerías
6. Noche de Arabia
7. Piropo a la bulería
8. Malagueña
9. Alegrías
10. Sevillanas

Sabicas - Recital de guitarra flamenca. Vol. 3
Grabaciones de 1930-1940.

1993 Fonografica Del Sur 7038

Sabicas introduced and developed most of the techniques used nowadays in modern flamenco guitar.

Tracks:
1. Bodas de Luis Alonso
2. Fantasía Inca
3. Malagueña
4. Guajira
5. Farruca
6. Zardas
7. Gran jota
8. Milonga
9. Danza mora
10. Aires del norte
11. Capricho español


3 CD's in one folder: grab the grabaciones
mp3 320 kbps | "booklet" scans | 251mb

thanks Miguel!

Sabicas

More death music! More Fahey-influences. More guitar-magic. More mystery. Real mysteries. Not just like, how in Yahweh's chthonic name did he do that!?! But also insights into the mysteries that lay beyond death and the multifarious bardos. This is endarkenment music. But it's fun... Seriously though, Sabicas blows the pants off any other flamenco guitarist I've heard. Hey may not be as fast as Carlos Montoya or as crystalline as Paco de Lucia, but he has that special folly that comes through his music as borderline insanity, where you get the feeling that he's leaning as far over the cliff as he can, just because he knows he can't fly. He is bound to this harsh mortal samsara, and he carries death with him in his guitar case. But by Jove, you listen to this man and fly you will. Land you may never...

"The music Sabicas plays creates a world of love, rhythm, and death. It is not a world in which the intellect is of much use, for the music seeks to communicate deep emotions, the darkest feelings one tries to avoid. Flamenco in the hands of the great gypsies is a constant striving to express this duality. No guitarist of the 20th century has expressed this better or more profoundly than Sabicas."

- Cynthia Gooding, from her liner notes to Sabicas - The Greatest Flamenco Guitarist (Rhino Handmade)

Sabicas is known the world over as one of the premier guitarists of the 20th Century, admired by flamenco and classical players alike. His pitch is said to be perfect, his dexterity approaching light speed. He lived the fascinating life of a true Spanish gypsy. According to their tradition, the gypsy has but two sides to his nature: the pleasure he must seek in this life balanced with a constant awareness of death. Love is central -- without it, death is preferable to life. These simple yet profound aspects of gypsy life are the bedrock of this most intense and visceral musical form.

Spaniards believe that all forms of flamenco derive from seguiriyas, the "deepest" songs; and soleares, the "lesser" songs. The former ponder the endless sorrow of humankind, while the latter tap into its joys and fleeting pleasures. Many of the selections on this CD are identified accordingly ("Soleares," "Seguiriya," "Solera Gitana," "Solea Por Bulerias"). As for the rest, Spanish speakers will discern by their titles the balance between these primary emotions. But perhaps the most fun will be had by non-Spanish-speaking aficionados, their clues coming solely from the music itself.


He represented a breaking point for the flamenco guitar and he revealed flamenco to the whole world, via America. He was absolutely innovative, and revolutionised guitar playing with his speed and polished execution with a right hand technique that is unmistakeable and unrepeatable. His influence has been unquestionable for the new generations of guitarists, passing through the work of Paco de Lucía and Serranito.

He was born between Sanfermines (Pamplona's world-famous feast) and gypsies, in the city that Hemingway made popular with his pen, and his parents bought him his first guitar when he was four years old, when he was just strong enough to lift it. Two years later, he was already making his debut on a stage. In his beginnings, he was a fanatic follower of Ramón Montoya. Nonetheless, his work accompanying the most important cantaores of the time helped him to conceive a far more personal style of playing.

During the Civil War (1936) he went into exile to South America with Carmen Amaya and, together, they embarked on several tours. Sabicas grew fond of those lands, and settled in New York, where he played concerts as a solo artist. He became open minded, to the point where he made the first attempt at fusion with Joe Beck, Rock encounter (1966). He also struck up an important relationship with jazz masters like Charles Mingus, Ben E. King, Gill Evans, Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. He even played for President Roosevelt in the White House and was treated as just another artist by the record labels, which distributed his records all over the world.

He did not return to Spain until 1967. Twenty years later, his country of birth gave him a national tribute for the first time, in the Teatro Real in Madrid. Earlier, in 1982, Pamplona had dedicated its feast, the Sanfermines, to him. He recorded with Enrique Morente a year before he died.
- from http://www.esflamenco.com/bio/en10036.html


He was already a legend in life. He was proud of having done for the guitar what nobody had done before: to tour the whole world with it, make it fashionable and get a bit of classical from it. "The flamenco guitar had never been played outside Spain - the author explained in 1984 - and not everyone, a very little. Then, since my records came out in the last thirty years, people became fond of the flamenco guitar anywhere in the world". He did not consider himself a follower of any guitar school, of any influence. "I have never had teachers. A proof of this is that I have a brother for whom I have never been able to set a single variation. I do not know how to teach, so I do not give lessons, because I was never taught by anyone. I do not know where to start. I do not know music". He acted in films. The mastery of Sabicas has brought the greatest praise. Thus, Howard Klein: "His art has no superfluous attitudes. It does not make one feel he is playing, but rather the music just flows spontaneously". Or Brook Zern: "Sabicas has everything necessary: a mysterious technical precision, astonishing speed, a perfect tone and absolute understanding of flamenco, of its structure and if its intonation. Moreover, he has a great ability to invent".

Grandes Figures du Flamenco, Vol. 14 - Sabicas

Year: 1992/1998
Label: Le Chant du Monde

"The mundillo, critics and recording companies, have always used the term virtuoso when speaking of him. And it is true that the first thing that strikes one on hearing him is his prodigious technique, which is truly unprecedented, and of which the analysts said that before Sabicas there were things that seemed impossible to do on the guitar, after him there is no longer anything ! It is unnecessary to emphasise what the present generation of Paco de Lucia, Habichuela, Serranito and the young Tomatito owes to Sabicas. But in addition to his incredible agility he possessed a musical creativity that was admirable. Sabicas was not only a guitarist, he was a composer - a rare thing in a Gypsy. He could neither read nor write music : one day he said that the notes on a stave looked like "little birds on electric wires", but thanks to his mastery of the instrument and to his prodigious memory, he was capable of playing his compositions, pieces lasting several minutes, practically note for note over and over again, like his Castillo moro and his Noches de Malaga. Moreover, on listening to his Garrotin or his six Sevillanas one will be struck by the superb inventiveness - variations, ornaments, modulations and traditional flamenco forms, endow his creative imagination with an entirely personal quality."
- Mario Bois

Tracks
1 - Bronce gitano
2 - Ecos de la mina
3 - Taconeo gitano
4 - Campina andaluza
5 - Por los olivares
6 - Fragua gitana
7 - Ecos jerezanos
8 - De los Laureles
9 - Mi garrotin
10 - Joyas de la alhambra
11 - El castillo moro
12 - Seis sevillanas
13 - Punta y tacon
14 - Ay, mis ducas
15 - Brisas de la caleta
16 - Noches de Cadiz
17 - Y tus labios

*note* tracks 12 & 16 are missing. stupidly, there are files which claim to be them but are in fact just copies of other tracks on the disc. so i didn't notice before uploading. *sigh*

edit: here is the correct track 12 & 16, generously provided by bolingo

what a great figure.
mp3 vbr | w/ cover | 79mb

and the booklet scans, generously provided by miguel

Sabicas - Ole! La Guitarra de Sabicas

Year: 1999

Re-issue. Two albums recorded in 1972, now on one CD. With collaborations by brother/guitarist Diego Castellon, singer Adela la Chaqueta, and dancer Rosarito La Mejorana.

Every track list I've seen for this is different, but this is the tracks in the order of the upload:

1. -- Guadalquivir (Danza)
2. -- Alma Gaditana (Solea)
3. -- Compases Flamencos (Alegrias)
4. -- Zapateado Danza (Zapateado)
5. -- Pena la Plateria (Granainas)
6. -- Ensueno Arabe (Danza Arabe)
7. -- De Los Rizos de Tu Pelo (Colombiana)
8. -- Taconeo Gitano (Seguiriyas)
9. -- Torremolinos (Malaguena)
10. -- El Conquero (Fandangos de Huelva)
11. -- Variaciones de Alegrias (Alegrias)
12. -- Embrujo Sevillano (Bulerias)
13. -- Mi Solea (Soleares)
14. -- Campanitas (Farruca)
15. -- Piropo A Galicia (Gallegada)
16. -- Malaguena (Malaguena)
17. -- Ecos de Linares (Taranta)
18. -- Duquelas de Triana (Seguiriyas)
19. -- Viniendo Del Alba (Rondena)
20. -- Villancicos de Jerez (Villancico)

get it and find out.
mp3 192kbps | w/ cover | 99mb

VA - Flamenco Highlights from Spain

Year: 2002
Label: Laserlight

This is (or was) one of those bargain* albums that record companies throw together without any idea of what they're doing, and as you might expect, the outcome is some good news and some bad news.

First the bad news: eight of the tracks here -- the even-numbered ones -- are totally dispensable, seven of them being Sevillanas (which is only considered a flamenco style by courtesy) performed by two different but equally undistinguished ensembles; and the eighth a Fandango by a third. It's hard to know which is worse: the flute, the clatter of castanets, or the gooey harmonies.

The good news is that the other eight are guitar solos by Sabicas (1912-90), one of the greatest flamenco guitarists of all time. I say solos, but Track 3 is triple-tracked, with a beautiful stereo image; and (laughably considering the album title) it's a version of the old Trio Los Paraguayos harp favourite, "Bell Bird" ("Pájaro campano"). The others include a Guajira, Verdiales, Carcelera, Castellana, Farruca, Sevillanas, and an arrangement of Oyanguren's "Fantasía Inca", with an introduction that's not in the version he recorded for Elektra on Sabicas Vol. 2 (reissued on La Guitarra Flamenca).

Since all the Sabicas tracks were recorded in the USA then, and since none of the others could possibly be a flamenco highlight to any but a depraved perception, the number of Flamenco Highlights from Spain here is actually zero.

But buy this anyway, for the Sabicas tracks -- just program the others out.

- an amazon reviewer

Tracks:
1. Guajira/Cana de Azucar
2. No lo Beses en LA Boca
3. Ritmos del Paraguay
4. Luna por el Rocio
5. Verdiales/Puerto de Mala
6. Fandangos de Huelva
7. Carcelera/Reflejo Andalu
8. Carretas del Rocio
9. Castellana
10. Sevillanas de LA Loteria
11. Farruca/Con Salero y Gar
12. Junto a una Rosa Llonaba
13. Sevillanas
14. Gitanos Canasteros
15. Fantasia Inca
16. Sevilla Visite de Gala

ritmos y fantasias.
mp3 160kbps | w/ cover | 33mb

*note* I have saved you all the trouble deleting the schlocky flamenco and left uploaded just the Sabicas tracks, which are great. consider them bonus tracks to the other two albums.

and for more Sabicas gems, check out Flamenco Palo Seco