FLAMENCO GUITARIST (1947 - )
Paco de Lucia is one of the best-known names in the world of Spanish
flamenco. He was born in Algeciras in 1947, and from an astonishingly
young age absorbed forms and techniques with such rapidity that
by the time he was 14 his teachers found they had nothing left to
do.
Since then he has transformed the guitar into an instrument of solo expression
with a raft of new techniques, scales, melodies and harmonies which
have taken him far beyond the limits of traditional flamenco. De
Lucia's virtuosity is such that he can sound like two or three people
playing together.
The innovation of his playing was perfectly suited to the post-Franco
social liberation of the 1970's and early 1980's. In the 1970's,
de Lucia accompanied El Camaron de la Isla and several albums of
them playing together have resulted.
Since then, he has, among other things, interpreted Manuel de
Falla with an electric backing band, collaborated with jazz players
such as John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell and in the 1990 album
Ziryab, looked back to the Islamic roots of Andalusian music. He
has attained international acclaim through extensive foreign tours
and a steady flow of varied albums. For the uninitiated, the double
album, Paco de Lucía Antologia is an excellent introduction to his
work.
