Friday, February 28, 2014

Paco de Lucía

Paco_de_Lucia1

The flamenco guitarist, Paco de Lucía has died at the age of 66 from a suspected heart attack.

Born Francisco Sánchez Gomez in Algeciras, he was an infant prodigy. De Lucía  would practice for 10 to 12 hours per day and first preformed professionally at the age of 12. When he was 14, he joined the company of the dancer José Greco and played on three international tours.

De Lucía's awards ranged from a prize at an International Flamenco competition in Jerez in 1959 to the national Asturias prize for art in 2004. He won Latin Grammies in 2004 and 2012.

De Lucía will probably be best remembered for his role in Carlos Saura’s 1983 interpretation of the opera Carmen. He will also be remembered for the way in which he introduced new instruments such as the cajón, the saxophone, flute, brass, chromatic harmonica and the fretless bass into his band. 

I only have one recording on which Paco de Lucía played with the singer, Camarón de la Isla.

No comments: