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Index
Once upon a time...
a new instrument
During a Latin American tour by Paco de Lucía
around 1977, it just so happened that a Peruvian cajón
fell into the hands of the band's percussionist at a party
organized by the Spanish ambassador in Peru. Rubem
Dantas incorporated it straight into the music of the
Paco de Lucía sextet. And since the guitarist was (and
still is) the man who calls the shots, that meant it was channeled
directly into flamenco music in a wider sense. Manuel Soler
was present at the point when they adopted the instrument,
as he was a bailaor with the group and even played the bongos
occasionally. As he commented in an interview with Flamenco-world.com
in 1999, “the cajón was more sober for flamenco”
than other percussion instruments that had already been used
like congas, bongos or drumkits.
Rubem Dantas with Jorge Pardo
(Frame from 'Flamenco'
by Carlos Saura)
According to José Manuel Gamboa in the book ‘A
history of flamenco’, Paco
de Lucía himself commented that “it's ideal
for this music because it has a sound very similar to that
of a bailaor's taconeo, to knuckles rapping a rhythm on a
table, or to a slap on the soundboard of a guitar. And besides
it doesn't give tone like a skin drumhead, like the membranophones.
It always sounds good, whatever it's accompanying. It was
a great find and an achievement I feel very proud of”.
Jorge Pardo, another member of that magical line-up, adds
that “the cajón is easy to play, easy to handle
(you can carry it around no problem), and falls somewhere
between palmas and taconeo. The sound is of wood, like slapping
the body of the guitar, it doesn't create too many harmonics...
Perfect”. To which he adds an opinion: “Rubem
Dantas created a style of playing the cajón”.
A new style adapted to flamenco, different from the traditional
Peruvian style, that launched a new school. The lessons from
the master himself are to be found on ‘Calle Real’,
‘Viviré’ and ‘Como el agua’
by Camarón; on ‘Siroco’, ‘Live in
America’ and ‘Sólo quiero caminar’
by Paco de Lucía; ‘Las cigarras son quizá
sordas’, ‘Veloz hacia su sino’ and ‘2332’
by Jorge Pardo; ‘Aigua’ and ‘Fénix’
by Carles Benavent; ‘A Mandeli’ by Pepe Habichuela;
‘Imán’ by Chano Domínguez, ‘Jazzpaña’...
Index
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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