Alma del violín flamenco en Las Palmas

Although both flamenco and violin have long association with Romani music, the violin never was your typical flamenco instrument. Well, this young man is about to change that. Wikipedia credits Paco Montalvo as “creador del violín flamenco como voz principal” (“creator of flamenco violin as the main voice”). I have to say that for at least a year or so I was diligently ignoring the videos of Paco Montalvo that were invading my newsfeed. Then, last December, I read that the man himself is coming to Canarias. So Timur and I bowed to the inevitable and went to see him in the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus.

We were treated to an hour and a half of wonderful music, blissfully devoid of cante (which is always a plus, in spite of sounding like a minus, as Tamara has put it). As one could guess from the name of the show, Paco played many songs from his debut album, Alma del violín flamenco, but also from his latest offering, (unfortunately, not-so-imaginatively named) Corazón Flamenco. And, if I must to give any highlights... naturally, homage to Paco de Lucía: Río Ancho [1] and La Barrosa; Tamacún by Rodrigo y Gabriela; Camarón’s Rosa María... And I was really impressed by 20-years-old Marta Guillén’s dance in El Vito Cordobés and Sevilla por Bulerias.

For encores, Paco & the band played My Way (the only one I honestly could live without) and another of Paco de Lucía’s hits, Entre dos aguas [2]. The audience, as it is usual (in my experience) in the Auditorio, were incredibly quiet and well-behaved throughout the whole performance, and only clapped along that last song... then gave a standing ovation.

Jesús Gómez: guitar Marta Guillén: dance, castanets, handclaps Paco Montalvo: violin Alberto Romero: handclaps Miguel Santiago: percussion

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1. Actually, Mediterranean Sundance/Río Ancho, as on Friday Night in San Francisco.
2. Entre dos aguas may be the most famous tune ever written by Paco de Lucía. However, according to José Torregrosa, producer of the 1973 album Fuente y caudal, it was created by pure chance. They needed «un tema de relleno» (“a filler theme”) for the album and Paco improvised this rumba along the lines of Te estoy amando locamente, a well-known song by Felipe Campuzano. The name of the composition refers to Paco de Lucía’s home town, Algeciras, which is indeed situated “between two waters”, i.e. Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea — logical enough, but something I was not aware of until last year when one of my students, native of Algeciras, enlightened me.