24 hours in Sevilla

We arrived to our favorite barrio yesterday, ate at our favorite restaurant four doors down from our new place. Walked 3 blocks to our flamenco hang at Chiringuito to find one of our closest friends here, Paco "El del Compas" died from cancer 4 days ago. Que triste.

Paco was an amazing person. He was the first friend we made in Sevilla(see pic w/ Encarna) and was responsible for introducing us to just about every friend we have here. Buena gente indeed.

Paco showed us more about flamenco than just about anyone we've had contact with. He took us under his wing, showed every flamenco place and hideout he knew of and made us truly feel like it was our home here. He embodied his flamenco name as he absolutely owned the compas. Six beats and one jaleo and he could get a juerga started like no one we've met. His joy for flamenco was infectious. He recorded all the palmas for every Mártires del Compas CD.

In lighter news, we had a great day today, went to Cafe Spala for our favorite desayuno. 3.50 Euros includes a tostada con jamón y tomate, jugo natural y cafe. What a steal. It took less than 24 hours to get the slow Sevilla walk down again. Found new shoes and 2 outfits for Encarna as well.

Off to start the heavy practice grind again and start composing for the new CD. We're meeting up with my maestro Martin Revuelo to hang out and get caught up. We will keep you posted on our flamenco experiences here. Stay tuned for more. Un abrazo fuerte, E&E

Post gig depression cure.

Hola estudiantes. I recently wrote this response to a post on Jason Mcguire's flamenco forum from a guitarist who gets down after the long gigs sometimes. There are always big ups and downs being an artist, but there are ways to minimize your trauma. It's very simple, NEVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT.

I no longer do restaurant shows because they bummed me out too much after many years. But these are very necessary gigs for most of us who need to make a living. It is also a great way to practice. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it.

Whether it is a restaurant, club, theater or big festival, get what you deserve. A restaurant should give you full meals(off the menu not some slop they round up) and drinks every time you play. A club should give you what they have and give you a decent greenroom. Never take less money than you think you are worth. More important, never let anyone treat you like shit. It's never worth being someone's bitch.

What this means is you have to be willing to turn down or lose work to keep your integrity. I can tell you from experience that it pays tenfold. I'm a much happier person, I get paid more and always get treated well, because I won't accept anything else.

You also would be doing a great favor to your fellow artists. If none of us put up with bullshit, than they'd have to pay well and take care of ALL of us. For example, I won't do more than two 40-45 minute sets, because I don't think it is appropriate for the art form(my opinion) if you want a captive audience. Many clubs want us to be jazz musicians and it is not the same animal.

When I'm not doing bigger shows or on tour, I could gig 4 or 5 days a week if I wanted. I choose 1 or 2 because they are the only places that give flamenco the respect it deserves, and treat us and pay us well. Same goes for private shows. If you hold your ground, you'll lose half the shows, but many of them are not great anyway. You'll find you get paid twice as much and get respect because you demand it.

Hope this doesn't come across as arrogant, because that is not my intention. I just hate the fact that people think they can treat artists like shit and get away with it. We all deserve better than that.

So going back to the original post, sometimes you do just feel down after a show no matter what. That's life. But you can eliminate the many other factors that are usually the things that bum you out. Un Abrazo- El Comanche

Practice

Mis Estudiantes: Practice, practice, practice. Especially when you don't want to. Easier said than done, but it's the only obstacle between where you are and where you want to be. Speaking of, I'm going to get back to it myself right now . . .

Musicality, melody and the guitar obstacle

So I'm always learning from teaching my students, and I've been emphasizing what I think is a very crucial point in this whole flamenco guitar challenge. This applies to all music, but what I'm talking about is making difficult passages easier on the guitar and better for your audience.

Us guitarists easily fall into the trap of the guitar itself, as in the shapes of chords, scales, arpeggios and technique. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, would this sound cool if it was sung? Or on a violin? When you start looking at your falsetas and solos this way, you quickly realize you are playing guitar often, but not always being very musical. Because of the way the guitar is set up, it is easy to fall into this trap.

There are two reasons I bring this up. The obvious is that you should try and make your music sing, so when you perform, it gives maximum pleasure to yourself and the audience. After all, don't we play music because we love it?

The second is the technical aspect. Because flamenco guitar is so challenging, we spend countless hours on compás, technique, scales, arpeggios, chord changes, falstetas and speed exercises(all which are necessary). Even with all this practice, we still find many passages and chord changes difficult to pull off live or in compás without a retard. This is not acceptable in flamenco. So what do we do?

After you've worked hard on the technique, and are warmed up, try only concentrating on the melody and forget the guitar. I know it is easier said than done, but if you focus on hearing the melody in your head and your heart, the guitar will play itself, and you will make less mistakes because you are focused on MUSIC, not your hands!

So let's forget the technical advantages, and talk about music. What are you trying to say as an artist? How able are you to show yourself honestly as a human being(as Bruce Lee would say) and channel something greater than yourself if you are focused on the guitar? This in my opinion, is what separates the masters from the pros.

When you see Paco de Lucia, Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Wonder in their great live moments, they are not focused on what they are doing physically, they are making timeless music. This is the real reason we should look up to these masters.

The beautiful thing about all this, is it is the most achievable aspect of music. If you can find a way to give yourself honestly, no one can take that away from you, and it doesn't matter how much faster or cleaner someone else can play. No one has what you have. A lesser guitarist can blow away an advanced flamenco player with aire, spirit and compás.

Look what Kurt Cobain did with a couple bar chords and some anger.

I hope this is helpful for some of you striving artists out there. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. Keep hitting that metronome, just give your self some time after to play some music.

Un abrazo grande -El Comanche

Sevilla Journal 2006

Hey you all, just found some archived entries from our trip to Sevilla in 2006. Thought we would share them with you below:

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Eric and Encarna en Sevilla Hola amigos, Encarna and I just arrived and are staying in La Macarena, a very cool flamenco neighborhood. Getting settled in and so excited to be back. Last night we went to Hotel Triana, an beautiful outdoor venue where we saw El Potito and La Susi perform in the same night! Went to the local flamenco bar after saw my teacher Martin Chico. So cool to see him again. Such a good guy and a constant inspiration to grow as a guitar player and flamenco artist. He broke his hand so I´ll have to wait another week for my lesson. Bummer. We met La Susi too(was very sweet), see photo. Gotta run, well be in touch- Eric & Encarna

Monday, September 18, 2006

Eric and Encarna en Sevilla 2 It has been a little harder to get in touch with the whole scene compared to last time. Some of our favorite places have closed, and we are finding out where everything is. Saw our friend Chico the last 2 nights, the singer from Martires del Compas, an awesome flamenco rock group from Sevilla. Again, we laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. How cool to be back at Chiringuito, are favorite local hang. Many of our friends live in this alley bar at night, playing and singing flamenco, telling jokes, smoking the the good Moroccan stuff, and drinking Cruzcampo, the local pilsner. There is a feeling of freedom here that is hard to describe. On a sadder note, we found out 2 of our amigos have died since we left. Javi, got cancer in his leg and died quickly. El Indio, our homeless flamenco friend who was featured in the movie ¨Tres Mil Viviendos¨ died from the cold outside a hospital waiting to get surgery. I guess there was a big protest here after. You have to understand here, the few homeless are not outcasts in the flamenco scene, they are part of it. El Indio was one of the sweetest people we met in our travels here. From the first time he saw us, he screamed ¨Pelo Largo¨(long hair) to me from across the street, asked if I had Indian blood and if I played flamenco. I told him yes to both, and we became instant friends. This guy spoke fluent Apache somehow, after living with them for 6 months. He truly welcomed us to his world here, a beautiful world of late night flamenco, and many laughs. He chose his Gypsy life, as he saw it as the only way for him to live free, the way the Indians used too. You have arrived mi Tio, ¨¡La Libertatad!¨ Rest in Peace my friend . . . . .

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Eric and Encarna en Sevilla 3 ¡Ole! Everything has fallen in place as of last night. We have found that our neighborhood has more flamenco then the last, and is a barrio where the flamenco culture permeates the scene. There is a peña every Friday and Saturday at midnight, with flamencos that are preserving the Cante Jondo y flamenco antiquo(the oldest flamenco forms and poems), and the bar a block from our place is were all the old aficionados go to discuss the shows and flamenco history. Encarna has started dance classes with Miguel Vargas, and will be studying the cante with Esperanza Fernandez(his wife) in 2 weeks. These people are as good as it gets. Encarna is in heaven. Every Wednesday has an intimate theater flamenco show at a very high level. The show we saw last night was great, and I met another guitarist, Jose Manuel Tuleda, who I will be taking some technique classes with starting Friday. Then we went to see my teacher, Martin, kick some ass at the Pata Negra, a beautiful outdoor acoustic tablao. I was once again reminded that Martin carries the flamenco with him everywhere he goes. All the greatest flamenco moments for us have been with him. It would be hard to find a guitar player who enjoys playing more than him. At the end of the set, the singer´s son (about 7 years old) sang por buleria and fandangos. Incredible! We can learn alot as Americans from the Gypsies here in the way they nurture their children´s talent in music. They have the blessing at birth from their parents to live the life of an artist if they wish. After that we went to La Andalusa, another cool after hours flamenco joint where our friend Alvero was playing(one of the many incredible guitarists here), and received a welcome that almost made us cry. We are home. Though the Bienal is here, which is the biggest flamenco festival in Spain, this is what we came for. Flamenco is much more than music or dance. It is a way of life. How blessed we are to be here and to be in the company such generous and talented people. ¡Vive Sevilla!

Monday, October 02, 2006

More from Sevilla Hola from Sevilla again. Classes are going well. I´ve been studying bulería and alegrías again with Martín and Tudela, and starting on some new soleá por bulería today. The practice is hard as ever, and long hours. Just how I like it :-) Plenty of time to party in the evening(though I usually come back and keep practicing). Encarna is still studying with Miguel Vargas, and is very happy with him. Great technique and knowledge of the cante. I am playing for his classes once a week now. Encarna also starts voice classes with his wife Esperanza Fernadez today, as well as a seguirilla dance workshop with Belen Maya. We´ve had some cool flamenco moments late into the night again. Got to see my teacher Martín again with Natalia Marin, an awesome singer with a lot of Lole y Manuel chops. Encarna will also be studying with her soon. Had a good night at Chiringuito, our local hang. Encarna and I played our buleria por taranta and suprised our friends and won over the flamencos there. We got the full vibe of the palmas and jaleo to go with it. I was lucky enough to accompany Luiz Agujetas por buleria, though I totally blew one of the letras, I felt really bad. It was a chance to play with someone very well respected here. I had my flamenco friends there for support, so it could be worse. It is very hard if you don´t know the song sometimes. Then I played for my friend Chico from Martíres del Compas. We kicked out soleá, alegrías and some bulería, and I had a much better time with that. After we took a walk through the barrio Santa Cruz at about 3AM, maybe the most beautiful area in Sevilla. We heard more flamenco coming from a small tablao, so we went in, Encarna danced and we played a tune. The people were awesome. The flamencos have been so friendly and happy that an American can play their stuff. We were invited back and we´ll take them up on it. Anyway, gotta run. Looking forward to playing for you all in November. And we may have a special guest at the Cap Club . . . .

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

jammin´ in Sevilla Hey all, just another quick post. Both of us are still practicing hard out here. Things are good with our teachers. I played with the gitanos at El Montoncillo, the bar my teacher plays for the first time and received a warm welcome. And met 2 Mexicans! It was cool to see La Raza out here with the Gitanos. We returned the next night and Encarna danced and recieved a great response too. Flamenco can be very frustrating at times as it is difficult to learn, and there are many who are very judgemental out there about what is flamenco and what is not. Nights like these assure you are on track. When all the Gitanos yell ¡ole! at the end of a letra, falsetta or llamada, you know you are doing something right. I think that Sevillanos and Gitanos here are much more open about flamenco and it´s evolution with other kinds of music than American flamenco people are. I guess because some American flamencos are always trying to prove they are flamenco(including changing their names to Spanish ones, lame), whereas the people here are flamenco no matter what they play, so they are very open about it. And speaking of, we have got a great reaction from the new CD here. The most popular flamenco CD store in Sevilla(though very small), Compas Sur, is going to carry it. Gotta run, we´ll be in touch. Love to all in Seattle E & E

Our Mission

Flamenco is more than a beautiful art form. It is an attitude and a way of life. Similar to blues and rock&roll, it's a way to break down the walls of mediocrity that surround us every day, and tap into something deeper. It is a rejection of the status quo, an enthusiastic endorsement to live free, to feel the extreme ups and downs in life, and rise victorious.

Flamenco is for everyone who is open to it. Yes, the gypsies own it in their own way. Yes, it is an authentically Andalusian art form with a long history and strong cultural roots, but the feeling is universal. We believe the greatest art, the inspiration of the moment, comes from a higher power. It's not something we own, but are lucky enough to channel sometimes.

At it's highest level, flamenco not judged by its peers so much by the amazing sense of rhythm, or beautiful melodic structure and lyrics, or it's insane level of technical ability, all that is really a given. The true flamencos judge a performance by the "duende". That magic moment when time stops and something profound happens. Where you can't even describe what you are feeling. Whether they are tears of joy or sadness, the flamenco gives you a way to release it.

This is what guides us on this incredible journey. We have experienced these precious moments with our friends, family and teachers in Spain and from performing around the world. We live for and from our art without compromise, so we can pass this experience on to you. We are dedicated to bringing this beautiful art to Seattle, to bringing the greatest flamenco talent directly from Spain, to plant a seed that will grow for years to come. We faithfully teach what we have been taught to all who have the desire, hoping some will surpass us and do the same. E&E

Bach por Bulería

Having fun mixing some Bach with flamenco!