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Michael Daniel

Core C – NYT: “A Flamenco Master Is His Own Ensemble”, B10, Feb 12, 2007
2/13/2007

Paco de Lucia performed on Saturday night at the Flamenco Festival. De Lucia is

a Flamenco master and legend. He put on a masterful performance. This article answers

the question, “What was the best part of the performance?” The answer is that the best

part of the performance was when he was playing solo without any accompaniment.

The headline states that de Lucia was his own ensemble. This is inconsistent with

the article itself because the article clearly states that during the first half of the concert he

was accompanied by drums and two singers. That constitutes an ensemble. During the

second half of the show he was accompanied by, “his entire ensemble.” The only time

when he did not have an ensemble was during the first song, where he did not need an

ensemble because the song was a solo.

The article states that musicality was the foremost concern of the concert. This is

misleading because when musicality is the foremost concern of a concert I expect to hear

absolutist music. The vocalists made the music programmatic rather than absolute.

If de Lucia was such a master then the audience would not give a small, “yelping

applause,” when the buleria concluded with a flourish. A true master would have elicited

roaring applause or at least loud applause. The word, “yelping,” is misleading.

I question how a flamenco performance can possibly be, “gemlike,” as the author

described this concert. I would understand if there was a lazar show that created images

of gems on the stage but in this case the word, “gemlike” is misleading, as it is

impossible for a flamenco concert to resemble a gem.

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