Spanish Guitar

I agree with Rockethouse that Paco Pena is a must have for any serious fan of flamenco. Saw him live with his dance troupe and singers a couple of years ago-they were truly inspired that night. Paco de Lucia is amazing and perhaps the most exciting, but not really "flamenco puro". He relies heavily on electric accompaniment and non-traditional instruments such as electronic keyboards, electric bass, and saxophone. Check out "Paco de Lucia Plays Manuel de Falla" on Philips from the late 80's. Gypsy Kings are also great for a more "easy-listening flamenco" although live/lived as true gypsies more so than the others. Ottmar Liebert is top-40 where flamenco is concerned and should left out of any serious discussion about flamenco. The Assad Brothers are great, play more classical-style and are great technicians. The Romeros are great and play a wide variety of Spanish guitar music well (I have also seen them perform together a couple of times). Check out the Santa Fe(Argentina, not NM) Guitar Quartet (on the Klavier label) if you like the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, etc. Perhaps my favorite from years ago are Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya (a husband/wife duo)-check out any of their work, most of which is out-of-print. Happy listening!!

Sall4; Let me give an enthusiastic second on Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya. I had some wonderful vinyl of them as a duo, and some great solo recordings as well. I haven't looked really hard for their duo work on CD, but none has jumped out at me.

One fine Lagoya CD is 'Alexandre Lagoya - Bizet & Carmen Dances'. This has fine Spanish guitar arrangements, backed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra. On the Philips
Digital Classics series #446 002-2. No Ida Presti here though.

Anyone knowing of CDs of the Presti-Lagoya partnership, please let us know...

I was just on the Narada label site looking for something else and they have quite a few Flamenco collections...with Jesse Cook & many others. www.narada.com

how about Alex Fox? I didn't see him listed above, and since I only have one cd by him I'm not sure he's purely Spanish guitar. I would describe him as more "nuveau" spanish guitar. The cd I have is "Personality". It's worth a listen. It also has interesting versions of "Stairway to Heaven" and "The Wall"

Panderso, I have Gino D'Auri's version of Recuerdos de la Alhambra on a Universe compilation disc and I agree. Haunting and beautiful in a different way from Segovia's.

Has anyone mentioned Sabicas yet?