A necessary lesson in foundation work

Flamenco-world.com, February 2003
Fotos: Daniel Muñoz

Some crossed the Atlantic, others went across the Pyrenees, there were those who traveled hundreds of kilometers and others who hardly took a walk. They were answering the call of the course held by Flamenco-world.com International School armed with a flamenco guitar. Besides the instrument, they brought with them as common luggage the uncontrollable desire to learn. Óscar Herrero, a maestro with a didactic method, of the difficult-to-find type, was awaiting them in a luminous classroom in El Horno, located in the typical Madrilenian neighborhood of Lavapiés. They had an entire intense week ahead of them to satisfy their respective demands. Just two days later, they were already satisfied.

Flamenco-world.com International School
course with Óscar Herrero

Eduardo Olmos, native to the city of Elche in Alicante, explains that "there were technical things that I thought I was doing more or less well, that I was really close to getting, that it was a question of time... and no, it wasn't a question of time, they were wrong. I was learning things the wrong way, and no matter how long I went on like that, I never would have achieved anything". The student, who curiously began to be interested in flamenco when he was studying music in England, relates that "Óscar comes, takes your hand and moves it a few degrees lower and the sound changes completely". His conclusion is clear: "In the first two days of the course I've already gotten my money's worth, since your focus is totally changed".

Poking around the class for a while was very telling. Arranged in a circle around the teacher, the students were attentive to each and every move the instructor made on the bajañí. Not in vain, those who came the farthest nearly settled for watching he whom they had seen so many times on video play live. Octavio Primo, a Mexican student, remarks that "when I saw the course announced at Flamenco-world.com, after getting to know it through the videos, I became very interested in having a live class with him since, although flamenco is listened to in my country, there are no live sources to learn from". As in the case of his classmate from Alicante, these classes, besides being gratifying for him, are "very useful, because I've been able to correct the defects that I had when executing certain flamenco techniques". The guitarist is already thinking about the next course, knowing that until then, he has a lot to study: "I already have a great deal of information to assimilate... enough for a year, at least".

Óscar Herrero

Óscar Herrero and the students of Flamenco-world.com international school

And that is precisely Óscar Herrero's goal. The guitarist emphasizes that "this week I'm trying to teach students the basics of flamenco guitar as far as technical features, structures, harmonies, rhythms, how a guitarist works in relation to cante... In synthesis, to make the mechanism of flamenco guitar and flamenco understood". In his view, and coinciding with the appraisals of his students, the response has been more than positive. The field had already been plowed since, as Herrero explains, "you have to bear in mind that when people are making an effort to come from Mexico, the United States or anywhere it's because they're interested and, logically, they make the most of every minute of it". Proof of it is that on the third day they were already able to perform an accompaniment to cante por soleá and a sequence of seguiriyas with scarcely a hesitation, to give an example.

And the thing is that, besides the guitar in itself, they're in love with flamenco. Andreas Oskar, from the German city of Münich, feels "fascination for a culture that is a world of its own, a very complete musical world of dance, cante, music. All together. And once it starts to fascinate you...". The same thing is felt by Aitor Ayesta, a guitarist from Bilbao who started with classical music but turned to flamenco instead: "This enticed me more because it's stronger, it's something special; it must have something when it lures so many people from the outside".

Other way of playing

People like William Christy, a musician from St. Louis, Missouri (the United States), who, after twenty years of playing all kinds of genres, discovered that other way of playing that Paco de Lucía demonstrated on his records with John McLaughlin: "That wasn't flamenco, but I was surprised by his style". Although he had a friend close by who helped him to explore that new style, he also needed its personification: "I already knew all the musical theory common to other types of music, but I needed to see it played, to appreciate its technique close up, simply, to be observing". And the thing is that it is difficult to figure out the technical enigmas of flamenco from the recordings: "You can't learn it from the records, you can't guess it if you don't see it. They're very specific techniques that, no matter how long you spend listening to records, you can't learn if you don't play with a flamenco guitarist".

What are their plans? What are they going to do with all that knowledge they have packed up in their luggage for the ride home? Many of them, as amateurs, are content with giving themselves the personal satisfaction of brushing up. Some specify something more. Like that of Eduardo, William's dream is to play in accompaniment... well, in this case, to improve his playing in accompaniment, since he is a member of the only flamenco group in his city: Lost Flamencos. To do so, he needs "to study in depth, since there's still a lot more mystery in this music for me that so much time has led me to understand". He therefore coincides with his fellow classmates in that they will not miss the next dates of Flamenco-world.com International School with Óscar Herrero, "one of the few who - in the opinion of his students - teaches from theoretical focuses, who minutely examines its essence, taking it step by step, forgetting about duende (magic) and other clichés".

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