Another great guitar duo:
Sabicas (Agustín Castellón Campos): Flamenco guitarist of gypsy origins (Spanish: “gitano”.) Born in 1912 in Pamplona, Spain and died on the 14th of April 1990 in New York. At the age of five he received his first (“half”) guitar and made his first public appearance at the young age of 8. Sabicas was a groundbreaking flamenco artist considered to be one of the most influential innovators of the Flamenco guitar ever. His virtuoso style, often regarded as inimitable and initially influenced by Ramón Montoya, on its term was profoundly influential on a new generation of flamenco guitarists such as Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and Paco Peña. His longtime partnership with Carmen Amaya, Spain’s most famous Flamenco dancer, as well artisticly as more particularly as lovers brought him worldwide more than once into the glossy magazines.
Mario Escudero: Mario Escudero,flamenco guitarist, best known in the world in the history of the art of flamenco guitar with his own stage name of Mario Escudero, born in Alicante on October 11, 1928, died in Miami (USA) on November 19, 2004. His father was a Gitano and his mother was from Andalusia and moved to Madrid as a child to study guitar. In the beginning he traded under the artistic name of El Niño De Alicante.
This release containing flamenco guitar duet by two of the greatest Spanish guitarists of their day. Sabicas was a technical and improvisational genius who is at least the equal of Django Reinhardt or any player in the classical or rock field. Mario Escudero was also counted among the finest in his era – the legendary Ramón Montoya called him “the best flamenco guitarist of this new generation.” They were the first ones to form such a guitar duo and it seems improbable that anyone else will imitate them successfully. Normally the Flamenco guitarist improvises. He plays by heart; neither the music or the arrangement, complicated as it may be, is written down. Obviously the difficulty of making an arrangement for two guitars, with the frequent and rapid changes of rhythm typical of this music, is great enough; but to hear two soloists with all their virtuosity and temperament transformed into a team performing the colorful, melodious, Flamenco music with all it’s rhythmic patterns and variations sounds almost like the achievement of the impossible.(press release)
The greatest flamenco guitar duet recordings ever:
Sabicas (1912-1990) and Mario Escudero (1928-2004) were the foremost guitarists of their generation, who also happened to be cousins. But although the total of the albums they both made must run around three figures, they only ever made three records of duets: and two of them, from 1959 and 1960 respectively, are included on the present album (the third was an album of Latin American music called Romantic Guitars — From the Pampas to the Río Grande ).
“Fantastic Guitars” was the first flamenco record I ever heard: it was the days when a record shop would play you a bit of any album you asked for, and some friends of mine asked to hear this. It was like the road to Damascus: in that moment I decided to take up the flamenco guitar.
Even the grumpy purist Donn Pohren said:
‘In this record of guitar duets the guitars, arrangements, imagination, talent, good taste and compás of Sabicas and Escudero are truly “fantastic” […] What they do on this record has been done by no other duo, and I expect it will not be equalled in many a moon.’ ( The Art of Flamenco , 1st Edition, p. 170)
Track 4, erroneously labelled a Malagueña on the original release, is here correctly labelled as a medley of Verdiales and Fandangos de Huelva*. Track 10 is in fact a brilliant mixture of a zapateado and a tanguillo, with Escudero playing in C and Sabicas playing in A capo’d three frets higher. (by Paul Magnussen)
Personnel:
Sabicas (Agustín Castellón Campos) (guitar)
Mario Escudero (guitar)
+
Anita Ramos (castanets)
Tracklist:
01. Columbiana Flamenco 3.37
02. Fantasia Andaluza 3.20
03. Variaciones De Farruca 4.22
04. Ritmos Malaguenos 3.45
05. Gitanos Trianeros 3.26
06. Villancico Flamenco 3.09
07. Temas Andaluces 3.54
08. Pregon Gaditano 4.01
09. Bordones Granadinos 3.56
10. Recuerdo A Estampio 3.53
Music:
Agustín Castellón Campos & Mario Escudero
ManyFantasticColors 