New World Flamenco Festival

Falseta.com was generously invited to attend the yearly New World Flamenco Festival hosted by The Barclay in Irvine California to write about the performances and instructional classes for the 2006 season. One thing is for sure you better start planning on going next year as the talent consolidated in the span of a week was mesmerizing. The performances are above and beyond international quality and the instructional classes are fantastic for real face to face time with some of the world’s best Flamenco talent.

I was lucky enough to start my day attending an Intermediate & Advanced Guitar Master Class offered by none other than Juan del Gastor. The class size was smaller than I expected as it was scheduled on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and for only $35. And did I mention it was two quality hours long? To me that was a great deal, not only do you get to learn from a real legend but the cost was minimal compared to what instructors who claim to be Flamenco teachers out here in Los Angeles charge (more on that some other day).

The class took place in one of the Barclay’s private studios which offered an intimate setting away from any distractions giving you the ability to really concentrate and learn from the Master. The focus of the lesson was on the style of Moron and Juan del Gastor provided a composition for students to learn. Now here is were I will deviate as I felt that students may have not paid attention to the hidden jewels that Juan was providing in his lessons.

The first of the gems was when Juan del Gastor made all the students place there guitars on the floor. Now for some reason this seemed odd to the group but they complied and he continued to explain “El ritmo de Bulerias es un juego, como un juego de nino” which translated says “The rhythm of Bulerias is a game, like a childs game”. He used palmas to sound out the 12 beat and asked the group to follow along. After he felt the student had gotten the pattern down he asked them to do two other patterns which were three count patterns the first accenting the first beat (Xxx) and the second accenting the last beat (xxX). Again he started the Bulerias 12 count with his palmas and asked the group to follow along. After he had everyone on time he asked individual students to change there patterns to one of the other two he had taught them and to listen how it easily fits in to the 12 count. At first it was a bit rough as timing quickly became an issue but because of the group marking a strong 12 count it was easy to recover from a mistake and continue on. So the moral of this first lesson was “Learn to feel the compas before picking up your guitar”.

The lesson continued on as the students were allowed to pick up there guitars and practice the composition. The presence of the old world discipline was definitely in the air as Juan del Gastor would say “Que repetilo, repetilo, repetilo…” followed with a “Vamo ya!” commanding the students to play again and again until it was perfect. The students in the class made progress with each pass and judging by the twisting expressions on some of there faces and the frequent shaking off of cramping hands they were getting a good work out.

One of the more impressive things I walked away with from this class was how down to earth Juan del Gastor was. Taking time out to answer many questions from students and autographing memorabilia that students had brought. Although many question were asked here are a few that I thought were pretty good.

Student: What do you recommend for learning Flamenco guitar? Juan del Gastor: “Toca lo mas que tu puedas, primero picado, Segundo pulgar, tercero arpeggio y luego tocar por uno mismo. El estudio no es muy bonito, pero tendras mas fortura en los dedos. Luego tu tocas pa ti, lo que sea, solea, buleria…” roughly translated “Play as much as you can. First start with picado, second with pulgar, third arpeggio and finally play for yourself. Studying is not very pretty, but you will have strength in your fingers. Afterwards play for yourself, whatever you want, solea, bulerias…”

Student: What makes the different Bulerias? Juan del Gastor: “Bulerias es lo que to sientas. Apprenda lo que te ensena los instructors y luego lo cambias. Juega, juega con el…” roughly translated “Bulerias is what you feel. Learn from instructors and then change it. Play with it.”

After the lesson I hung out with a couple of students and grabbed some lunch at one of the local eateries across the bridge from the UCI campus. This by far is another great advantage of attending the New World Flamenco Festival and that is meeting fellow guitarist and Flamenco enthusiast. We had a great lunch and I listened to the students talk about their travels through Spain and encounters of wonderful tablaos with equally impressive performances.

I made my way back to The Barclay after lunch as I wanted to write down as much of what had just transpired in the lesson with Juan del Gastor and the students in my notebook. As I made my way through the parking lot I ran into none other than Jose Tanaka who was unloading his gear as he was scheduled to play every night of the New World Flamenco Festival.

Jose Tanaka is a first class artist who aside from being a phenomenal guitarist turns out to be a real cool guy to hang out with. Jose Tanaka knows everyone and I mean everyone! I was quickly being introduced to Flamenco performers coming to the New World Flamenco Festival from as far as San Francisco. I managed to get in a few geeky guitarist questions in for the article. So aside from a new CD which will be his third solo effort coming next year Jose is going to be traveling to Spain in order to rehearse for a recording with Cristobal Osorio. FYI Jose Tanaka plays a Lester DeVoe guitar and tends to favor La Bella 2000 strings. He did mention that you should try several string brands on your guitar in order to find the correct match between strings and a guitar. Also Jose gave me a copy of his second album Lluvia to review on Falseta.com.

As Jose finished setting up and started playing, the smell of Paella and Tapas soon started to fill the air. Guest were arriving in groves and Champagne filled glasses were being sipped as the buzz was growing towards the evening performance featuring Juana Amaya. Guests worked off the excitement of the upcoming performance by keeping the compas as they listened and watched Jose Tanaka perform.

Roaming around Café Flamenco there were many great vendors selling everything from traditional handmade dresses, music cd’s and custom jewelery. I took a look at my watch and it was 5:30pm! Where did the time go? I decided to get to my seat a bit early to jot down the notes I had originally intended to write down after lunch. As I wrote what I recalled I could hear the dancers warming up behind the giant red curtain which was only building the suspense to what I was certain would be a great show.

Related posts:

1. New World Flamenco Festival La Flor de la Vida
2. Adam del Monte – Tarantas Lesson
3. Online Flamenco Guitar Lessons
4. Barclay Flamenco Festival Workshop Schedule
5. Graf-Martinez Flamenco Metronome