Flamenco / Spanish guitar
 

i've always been interested in the genre, but never knew where to start. the other day i checked out some toplists on Amazon, and picked up a couple of albums.

http://notinportland.com/images/z33sljxd7brqgmnbwvz.jpg

John Williams - Spanish Guitar Music
don't know what to say, since i have very little to compare it too. it seems these are all classic pieces. it's not quite as flamboyant as i was hoping to find, but the technical expertise demonstrated here is phenomenal. it didn't bring goosebumps, but it is very good dinner music



http://notinportland.com/images/0lih...p4wchkw5h2.jpg

Jose Luis Encinas - Duende
now this is more like it! it's a very modern take on the genre from what i can tell. it shares a few songs with the Williams album i sampled. but this album injects the music with occasional trumpet, violen, acoustic guitar, keyboard, bass, and other sounds. it never comes across as a big band sound, the spanish guitar is always very much the centrepiece of the music, but the rest works wonderfully to accent each track. it ends up sounding almost new-age, but in a very, very good way.

if anyone knows more music like Duende, please do share!

i also love the sound of the flamenco guitar. Carlos Santana does some pretty great flamenco. You should check those out too. I'm not 100% sure on the names of the songs but this is what I have them down as "Flamenco Guitar" and "Spanish Rumba". I'm sure he has more.

Camaron!
 

You should really check out Camaron de la Isla. He was the Elvis, Iggy, Jim Morrison, etc. of flamenco in Spain in the seventies. He helped modernize the music but is recognized as one of the greatest traditional flamenco singers too.

Rodrigo y Gabriela are some amazing flamenco musicians, especially their rendition of "Orion", one of my favourite Metallica songs.

Another amazing group is Flametal... which is exactly what it sounds like... flamenco guitar with a metal backdrop.

Rodrigo y Gabriela and Flametal I have to echo whole-heartedly. Amazing bands that really know how to work the strings.

Also, Paco de Lucia plays a guitar like nobody else. What fingers.

thanks for the suggestions. i've got all of Rodrigo y Gabriela and Flametal on order. they should arrive in a few minutes ;)

I quite like Paco Fernandez: