The Art Of Flamenco

Carlos Montoya, outstanding artist of the flamenco tradition in Spanish music, comes from a famous family of musicians in Madrid. As a full-blooded Gypsy, he is an authoritative source of material which has so often been corrupted by an admixture of popular elements that it's original character is frequently misunderstood. Flamenco, as you'll hear on The Art Of Flamenco, is a popular derivative of gypsy music, strongly spiced with gypsy rhythms but different in its net effect. Both in vocal and instrumental parts, there is much florid ornamentation surrounding a basic theme. An important adjunct to this music is the guitar, which is ideally suited to keep pace with the throbbing agitation, high excitement, or discordant grief of the song. The instrument has in itself the faculty of supplying both harmony and melody simultaneously, and it responds to the fingers that strike it or pluck or vibrate the strings, with sounds that are as diverse as those produced by a bell, a dulcimer, a piano, a drum or a cello.