Francisco Sánchez Gómez[1] (Spanish:[fɾanˈθiskoˈsantʃeθˈɣomeθ]; 21 December 1947 – 25 February 2014), known asPaco de Lucía (Spanish:[ˈpakoðeluˈθi.a]), was a Spanishvirtuosoflamenco guitarist,composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of thenew flamenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz.Richard Chapman andEric Clapton, authors ofGuitar: Music, History, Players, describe de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar",[2] and Dennis Koster, author ofGuitar Atlas, Flamenco, has referred to de Lucía as "one of history's greatest guitarists".[3]
De Lucía was noted for his fast and fluentpicados (fingerstyle runs). A master of contrast, he often juxtaposed picados andrasgueados (flamenco strumming) with more sensitive playing and was known for adding abstract chords and scale tones to his compositions with jazz influences. These innovations saw him play a key role in the development of traditional flamenco and the evolution of new flamenco andLatin jazz fusion from the 1970s. He received acclaim for his recordings with flamenco singerCamarón de la Isla in the 1970s, recording ten albums which are considered some of the most important and influential in flamenco history.[4]
Playing in the streets as a young boy, there were many Pacos and Pablos in Algeciras. In Spain and Latin America, any of these children with common first names would be referred to as follows: '"Name of Child", (son or daughter) of "Name of Mother"', or "Paco (son) of Lucía" in his case, instead of using the child's last name. Later, after learning to play the guitar and tasked with figuring out a way to bill himself, wanting to honor his Portuguese mother Lucía Gomes, he adopted the stage namePaco de Lucía.[8]
His father Antonio received guitar lessons from a cousin ofMelchor de Marchena: Manuel Fernández (aka Titi de Marchena), a guitarist who arrived in Algeciras in the 1920s and established a school there. Antonio introduced Paco to the guitar at a young age and was extremely strict in his upbringing from the age of 5, forcing him to practice up to 12 hours a day, every day, to ensure that he could find success as a professional musician.[6][9][10] At one point, his father took him out of school to concentrate solely on his guitar development.[11] In a 2012 interview de Lucía stated that, "I learned the guitar like a child learns to speak."[12]
Flamenco guitarist and biographerDonn Pohren and record producerJosé Torregrosa compared Paco's relationship with his father to the relationship ofWolfgang Amadeus Mozart andLeopold Mozart in the way both fathers "moulded their sons" into becoming world-class musicians, and both continued to dictate even after the latter became famous.[13]
Paco's brother Ramón idolizedNiño Ricardo, and taught his complexfalsetas to his young brother, who would learn them with relative ease and change them to his own liking and embellish them. This initially angered Ramón, who considered Ricardo's works to be sacred and thought his brother was showing off; but he soon began to respect his brother immensely, and came to realize that he was a prodigious talent,fuera de serie (out of the ordinary).[14]
As also with Ramón, Ricardo was Paco's most important influence, and his first guitar hero; Paco said "all of us youngsters would look up to him, trying to learn from him and copy him."[15] In 1958, at age 11, Paco made his first public appearance on Radio Algeciras. That year, he metSabicas for the first time in Málaga.[16] A year later, he was awarded a special prize at the Festival Concurso International Flamenco de Jerez de la Frontera flamenco competition.[6]
At the age of 14 he made his first record with his brother Pepe,Los Chiquitos de Algeciras (The little ones from Algeciras).[17] In the early 1960s, de Lucía toured with the flamenco troupe of dancerJosé Greco.[5] In New York City in 1963, at the age of 15, he had his second encounter with Sabicas and his first encounter withMario Escudero, both of whom became de Lucía's mentors and later close friends. They urged him to start writing his own material, advice he took to heart.[16] In 1964, he metMadrileño guitaristRicardo Modrego with whom he recorded three albums:Dos guitarras flamencas (1964),12 canciones de García Lorca para guitarra and12 éxitos para 2 guitarras flamencas (1965).
His early albums were traditional flamenco recordings and he recorded classics such asMalagueña on the12 éxitos para 2 guitarras flamencas album. He toured again with José Greco in 1966 and recorded "Ímpetu", abulerías composed byMario Escudero,[18] for his debut solo album,La fabulosa guitarra de Paco de Lucía (1967).[19] He appeared at the 1967Berlin Jazz Festival. According to Gerhard Klingenstein, top jazz musicians who appeared at the festival (i.e.Miles Davis,Thelonious Monk), profoundly influenced de Lucía, and sparked a fascination for jazz that remained with him throughout his life.[20]
In the late 1960s, de Lucía toured Europe with a group calledFestival Flamenco Gitano and encountered other new talents in the flamenco world including singerCamarón de la Isla, with whom he enjoyed a fruitful collaboration between 1968 and 1977. They recorded ten albums together and received considerable acclaim.[21] Richard Nidel said that their partnership was "central to the history of flamenco in the last quarter of the twentieth century."[22]
De Lucía made acameo appearance, dressed as a Mexican guitarist, in the 1971 westernHannie Caulder, playing the melody ofKen Thorne's main theme over a string section. That year, he released the albumEl mundo del flamenco, which included a version of Mario Escudero's "Ímpetu", a bulerías.[24]Guitar International mentioned his "very aggressive" approach to playing "Ímpetu".[25] Escudero was a major influence on de Lucía during this period, inspiring him to explore new possibilities for flamenco.[24] He began working with record producerJosé Torregrosa.
De Lucía's 1972 releaseEl duende flamenco de Paco de Lucía was considered a groundbreaking album in the flamenco community.[26][27] As the 1970s progressed, de Lucía continued to produce groundbreaking albums and ventured into an increasingly unconventional and innovative style of flamenco with jazz influences.[6] His next release,Fuente y caudal, acclaimed particularly for his "Entre dos aguas", which has become arguably his best-known composition,[28] and also for "Solera" and "Cepa Andaluza". "Entre dos aguas", arumba featuring bongos with an electric bass, means "Between two waters", referring to his home town of Algeciras, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic.[29] Biographer Pohren describes "Cepa Andaluza" as a "phenomenal" bulerías, which is "accompanied by palmas, shouts of encouragement and general jaleo, and makes one want to leap up and dance."[29] The album also features several other tracks named after Andalusian landmarks, a theme de Lucía continued in his later albums.
TheFuente y caudal album was one of the best-selling Spanish records for several months and de Lucía and Torregrosa found that the additional instruments and approach away from traditional flamenco proved more popular with the general public.[30] The early influences of the traditional players became increasingly less apparent as de Lucía embraced jazz and other influences, creating his own voice and distinct style, yet never venturing too far from his roots.[30][6]
On 18 February 1975, de Lucía became the first-ever flamenco performer to perform at theTeatro Real of Madrid. He played a set with his brother Ramón, in front of a relatively young audience without the use of effects. Pohren said that de Lucía's performance "was brilliant technically, and played a meaningful, moving, traditional brand of flamenco that did not betray what Paco had in store for the flamenco guitar in the future."[31] The recording was released asEn vivo desde el Teatro Real.
His 1976 album,Almoraima, was a wider success and featured "Almoraima" and "Río Ancho". The album was named after a former convent of the same name located about 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Algeciras on the road toJimena de la Frontera, which had recently been converted into a hotel complex. The album featured significant Arabic and jazz influences especially in the bulerías composition of the same name; the name Almoraima is of Arabic origin from theMoorish period.[31] De Lucía performed on an episode ofParkinson onBBC in the UK, in whichMichael Parkinson said "a marvelous young musician who is making his very first appearance on British television. His unconventional and modern approach to playing flamenco has already made him a big star in Europe, particularly in his native Spain."[32]
In 1977, de Lucía married Casilda Varela, the daughter ofGeneral Varela and descendant to a powerful Basque industrialistAmpuero family; they had three children.[33] He released his final album,Castillo de Arena with Camarón de la Isla, The lyrics were written by Antonio Sánchez, with the exception of the buleríasSamara, which Sánchez and de la Isla wrote together. This would be his last LP with a singer for at least 15 years.[34] He reportedly said that the human voice is "naturally too limited" and that he prefers the exploration of different instrumentalists; he also said a busy schedule was the reason for lack of recordings with singers.[34]
He performed extensively across the US and Europe during this period, increasing his popularity outside Spain and the flamenco community in Europe, and met many jazz,Latin and other musicians who continued to influence de Lucía's evolution as a "Nuevo flamenco" player. He began to show a very keen interest injazz fusion and rock, and in 1977 performed withCarlos Santana in thePlaza de toros de las Arenas bullring inBarcelona.[35] He was invited byAl Di Meola to record on his "Mediterranean Sundance" piece for his albumElegant Gypsy. Despite considerable new interest in flamenco and de Lucía's playing generated by the album, traditionalist flamenco critics did not approve of the piece and hated that many people consideredMediterranean Sundance flamenco music and frowned upon de Lucía.[36] Di Meola informed the critics not to worry and that "Paco is not leaving flamenco, but expanding it."[36] In 1978, Paco and his brothers recordedInterpreta a Manuel de Falla, a classical effort of compositions byManuel de Falla.
In 1979, de Lucía,John McLaughlin, andLarry Coryell formed The Guitar Trio and together made a tour of Europe and released a video recorded at London'sRoyal Albert Hall entitledMeeting of the Spirits. Pohren said that de Lucía's decision to work with musicians like McLaughlin, Di Meola, Coryell, and Chick Corea must have been an "exciting and stimulating" experience for him, given their technical musical knowledge and ability to improvise and said that they carried him "so far afield that at times he must have been profoundly confused, a man running the risk of losing his musical identity."[37] This concerned de Lucía, who said in a late 1990s interview, "I have never lost the roots in my music, because I would lose myself. What I have tried to do is have a hand holding onto tradition and the other scratching, digging in other places, trying to find new things I can bring into flamenco."[6]
The Guitar Trio continued touring in 1980, with Larry Coryell being replaced by Al Di Meola in 1981. De Lucía reportedly suffered from headaches and backaches while performing because he found it difficult to improvise and follow McLaughlin and Coryell's advanced knowledge of jazz improvisation.[38] Paco professed, "Some people assume that they were learning from me, but I can tell you it was me learning from them. I have never studied music, I am incapable of studying harmony—I don't have the discipline, playing with McLaughlin and Di Meola was about learning these things."[39]
Also in 1981, The Guitar Trio released one of their most successful records,Friday Night in San Francisco, which sold over 1 million copies and generated a significant interest in flamenco music in America and Europe. It featured an extended combination of "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Río Ancho"; this became arguably the piece most associated with the musicians. De Lucía also formed thePaco de Lucía Sextet in 1981 (which included his brothers Ramón and Pepe), and released the first of its three albums that same year. On 30 August 1981, de Lucía performed a solo set atSt. Goarshausen in Germany, where he performed "Monasterio de Sal" and "Montino" among others and later performed with The Guitar Trio. The event was broadcast on nationalWDR television.[40]
Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin took part on the making of Paco de Lucía'sCastro Marín (1981). It was named after the hometown of Paco's Portuguese mother, Luzia. Recorded atTokyo in December 1980,Castro Marín remains one of the most obscure titles in his catalogue. Coryell and Paco played as duo on the fifth track, "Convite (Rumba)", and as a trio on the next track "Palenque".[41]
AfterCastro Marín came Paco's revolutionarySólo quiero caminar (1981). It was the very first to be recorded withPaco's sextet, a group that brought into being a new way to play flamenco. One of the sextet's major contributions was introducing thePeruviancajón within a flamenco context. PercussionistRubem Dantas came up with an original style of playing the instrument, one that became unique to flamenco. Largely due toSólo quiero caminar, the cajón crossed over to otherlatin music styles, such as thetango andrumba.[42]
In 1982, de Lucía put on a series of concerts with jazz pianist Chick Corea.[37] Corea was a considerable influence on him in the 1980s and he and McLaughlin adapted a version of his piece "Spain", performing it live together several times in the mid to late 1980s. He released a "Golden" double compilation album in 1982,La Guitarra de Oro de Paco de Lucía, covering de Lucía's earliest recordings with Ricardo Modrego ofFederico García Lorca songs to date, and featured twosiguiriyas, a flamenco form in which he had not indulged in his recordings since 1972.[43]
John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía reconvened to record a studio album,Passion, Grace & Fire (1983). In the Spanish remaster of the album, flamenco scholars José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino Nuñez weigh in their impressions on the liner notes. Though somewhat lacking the "warmth" of the live setting of their debut,Passion, Grace & Fire is a more balanced effort. The three performers contributed with two compositions each.[44][45]
Paco de Lucía had an acting role inCarlos Saura's highly acclaimed filmCarmen, for which he was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Score. De Lucía composed original film scores for several films in the 1980s, includingThe Hit, a 1984 film in which he provided the soundtrack withEric Clapton, with a minor contribution byRoger Waters.[46]
On his 1984 album,Live... One Summer Night, de Lucía not only played guitar, but also filled the role of producer.[47] Paco de Lucía has also appeared as himself on television in documentaries and TV shows and accepted a position as a judge at Seville's 1984Bienal de Flamenco.[48]
1983
By the mid-1980s, both the Sextet and the Guitar Trio had reached its plateau and stopped performing together,[49][50] although de Lucía would continue to perform with McLaughlin as a duo across Europe in 1986 and later. In a 1986 interview withDownBeat magazine, Di Meola said that the reason for the breakdown was that their performances were designed to "drive the audience berserk" with a display of astonishing virtuosity and that they had run out of new spectacular fast runs to impress the audiences.[50] Di Meola remarked that the music had become too "wild and crazy" and that he preferred to explore the quieter side of music, something Paco also felt, saying that he preferred "controlled expression to velocity."[50] In May 1986, he performed at the Centro de Bellas Artes Rock music festival alongside the likes ofEarl Klugh,Spyro Gyra, andDave Valentin.[51]
In 1987, de Lucía performed for the first time in theSoviet Union,[52] and went back to his roots with his highly successful release,Siroco.Siroco is often cited as his best album and one of the greatest flamenco albums of all time.[53][54]
His compositions "La Cañada", the opening track, a tango called "La Barrosa", an alegrías named after thePlaya la Barrosa in the province of Cadiz, and "Gloria al Niño Ricardo", a soléa, received considerable attention and are considered modern flamenco classics.[55] Eric Clapton andRichard Chapman described "La Barrosa", a sweet alegrías played in B major, as, "full of effortless delicacy with cascading phrases."[56] "Gloria al Niño Ricardo" is dedicated to Niño Ricardo who was de Lucía's "first hero" of the guitar.[57][58] Several of his compositions fromSiroco formed the staple of de Lucía's later concert performances, and he often began his concerts with "La Cañada".
Although the sextet had declined after 1986, in 1990 they got together to recordZyryab, a groundbreaking Arabic flamenco/jazz album with jazz pianistChick Corea and fellow virtuoso flamenco guitaristManolo Sanlúcar. The album is named afterZiryab, an 8th–9th centuryShiraz-born poet/musician at theUmayyad court inCórdoba, credited with introducing to Spain the Persian lute, which evolved into the Spanish guitar—and according to some, established flamenco itself.[60][61] One track on the album, atarantas, is dedicated to Sabicas.[62] The album was critically well-received;JazzTimes praised the passion and rhythm of the musicians featuring on the album.[63]
Until asked to perform and interpretJoaquín Rodrigo'sConcierto de Aranjuez in 1991, de Lucía was not proficient at readingmusical notation.[64] Biographer Pohren, however, at the time of writing his biography in 1992, said that he was still not proficient and had found a bizarre way of learning the piece, locking himself away.[65]
His performance with the orchestra underEdmon Colomer was highly acclaimed, a sensitive, atmospheric rendition that composer Rodrigo himself praised, describing it as "pretty, exotic, inspired ... I might add that Paco plays it with a great deal of feeling, far more than is normally heard. And that goes for the orchestra that backs him up."[48] In 1992, he performed live at the bullring atSeville Expo '92, and a year later on thePlaza Mayor inMadrid, playing "La Barrosa". In 1995, he andBryan Adams recorded the hit song and video "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" on the soundtrack for the American filmDon Juan DeMarco.
In 1996, his first "golden hits" album,Antología, was in the top 20 in Spain for at least 16 weeks, selling over 65,000 copies.[66] In 1997, de Lucía performed in a tribute show to the assassinated Spanish politicianMiguel Ángel Blanco, alongsideJulio Iglesias,Los del Rio, and other musicians.[67] In 1998 he released and producedLuzia, dedicated to his dying mother (hence the Portuguese spelling of her name).[68] It is considered to be one of de Lucía's most complete and mature artistic statements.[69]
De Lucía lived for five years inQuintana Roo, Mexico, but returned to his native Spain in 2003 after professing to have become really tired with spending his whole life touring for six to eight months a year, getting up at the crack of dawn and living in hotels.[70] He continued to keep a holiday home in Mexico though and regularly visited with his family.
In 2004 he toured the United States and Canada with Seville flamenco singerLa Tana,[39] but subsequently greatly reduced his live performances in public. He retired from full touring, and would only give a few concerts a year, usually in Spain and Germany and at European festivals during the summer months. Pohren described de Lucía as "extremely timid and retiring", saying that, "Being a very private person, [he] was dismayed at the ensuing popularity and lionization, and the increased pressure fame placed upon his shoulders, demanding that he constantly innovate and work harder to achieve technical and revolutionary perfection."[71]
In 2005, he was nominated forproducer of the year by the Latin Grammy for La Tana's "Tu, Ven a Mi",[74] which was de Lucía's first recording where he directed another artist since working on Camarón de la Isla'sPotro de rabia y miel.[75]
De Lucía died of aheart attack on 25 February 2014, while on holiday with his family inPlaya del Carmen,Quintana Roo, Mexico. While playing soccer with his son on the beach, he asked his wife to take him to the hospital because he felt a "strange coolness in his throat." He was taken to a hospital and was able to enter the emergency room on his own, but had to be helped into a gurney. Soon after, he lost consciousness and died.
De Lucía was widely considered to be the world's premier flamenco guitarist and by many to be Spain's greatest musical export.[39][89] He had a revolutionary influence on flamenco music both as a composer and otherwise.[90] His influence on flamenco guitar has been compared with that ofAndrés Segovia's on classical guitar.[91]
His albumFuente y caudal (Fountain and Flow) has been cited by many to have changed the world of flamenco guitar beyond traditional flamenco culture.[92] Along withEnrique Morente andCamarón de la Isla, de Lucía was the first artist to break away from traditional flamenco and form what is now known asnuevo flamenco.[93] As a composer, de Lucía was the first Spanish artist to mix jazz with Andalusian music in a more or less systematic way.[94] This includes, but is not limited to, his collaborations with Di Meola, McLaughlin, andPedro Iturralde.[95][96]
Esteban de Sanlúcar andMario Escudero were also major influences on him and sources of inspiration. According to biographer Pohren, de Lucía was "fascinated with jazz" and held a deep respect for high-tech jazz musicians, regarding Di Meola, McLaughlin, Coryell and Corea as highly as musicians as he did his flamenco mentors.[97] Despite these influences, according to theJazz Times, "Most flamenco fans can trace the music's history to either Before Paco or After Paco."[90] In 2004 interview withEl País he said "I have always found that the more technique you have the easier it is to express yourself. If you lack technique you lose the freedom to create."[17] Like many other flamenco guitarists he often played aHermanos Conde guitar and had his own signature model,[98] but had a range of guitars in his collection.
Richard Chapman andEric Clapton describe de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar", highlighting his "astounding technique and inventiveness" and his broad range of musical ideas from other styles, such as Brazilian music and jazz.[2] He is noted for his innovation and colour in harmony and his remarkabledexterity,technique, strength and fluidity in his right hand, capable of executing extremely fast and fluentpicados. A master of contrast, he often juxtaposes picados withrasgueados and other techniques and often adds abstract chords and scale tones to his compositions with jazz influences.
Bill Milkowski ofDownBeat described him as "the portrait of studied concentration and pristine perfection: stiff backed and stern faced, with a distinguished air about him that some might misread as haughtiness. He's proud and majestic, like a regal Arabian steed prancing with grace and elegance, yet able to reveal great power."[99] Craig Harris ofAllMusic noted his "deeply personal melodic statements and modern instrumentation."[6]Atlanta magazine said, "The guitar, when used properly, can be one of the most haunting and beautiful instruments to create sound ... when he brushes his fingers across the strings, [he] can create some of the most incredible music. It's almost like a lullaby."[100]
José Luis Acosta, president of the Spanish Artists and Editors Society stated that "Paco was and will be a universal artist, who took the guitar and flamenco sentiment to the heart of the whole world."[17] In 2015,Billboard magazine named de Lucía as one of The 30 Most Influential Latin Artists of All Time, an editor writes: "The virtuoso instrumentalist popularized flamenco worldwide, and brought the Spanish sound to the forefront of avant-garde jazz.".[101] In the same year, he was posthumously inducted into theLatin Songwriters Hall of Fame for his contributions to flamenco music.[102] On 21 December 2016, Google commemorated the anniversary of de Lucía's birth with aGoogle Doodle created by Google artistSophie Diao that was shown in Spain, Mexico, and several South American nations.[103]
Another of Paco de Lucía's contributions was the inclusion of thecajón, anAfro-Peruvian instrumentCaitro Soto exposed to him during his visit toPeru in the late 1970s. He understood this instrument, which he saw as a permanent solution to the need for percussion in flamenco. Along withRubem Dantas, he added its percussive elements and it became an essential tool of contemporary flamenco and later, other international musical trends.[104]
A statue is dedicated to his memory in his native city of Algeciras, overlooking the harbour.[105]
^Stanton, Edward F. (1999),Handbook of Spanish Popular Culture, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, p. 146,archived from the original on 10 December 2008, retrieved9 November 2015
^Gioia, Ted (1997),The History of Jazz, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 368,archived from the original on 26 April 2010, retrieved9 November 2015
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