Guitar Gear

The Origins Of Flamenco Guitar Music

Without this exchange of musical ideas and the rich cultural influences also transmitted, music would rest compartmentalized. Tethered and bound to one location. One cultural heritage One Historical identity.It would touch only the locals. Not the World at large. St. Francis’ words “Life is a book. If we don’t travel, we only see one page” apply equally to Music.

This is particularly true for the Spanish Flamenco Guitar and it’s music.To fully appreciate the developement of this instrument, we must return to Cordoba, Spain. The essential date is 711. Just after the Islamic invasion. Accordingly, Cordoba had became a focal point for Islamic musicians.

It is there, at that time, that the Spanish Flamenco Guitar was born. It originated as the Oud, to which a fifth string was added.The musical hybrid that resulted from this cross-pollination was the “Andalucian Nuba.” Also known as the “Moorish Guitar.”

The European Lute and the Guitar Latina were the next instruments to contribute their unique elements to the continuing developement of the Flamenco Guitar. Over the course of several centuries, this “musical melting pot” continued, when the Vihuela was born. As a result of combining elements of the Moorish Guitar with the European Lute and the Guitar Latina.

An unusual instrument to say the least, at the height of it’s developement, the Vihuela had six double strings. Vihuelas were tuned almost like a modern guitar, with the exception of the third string, which was tuned a semitone lower. Viheula bodies were usually made from cypress, with a spruce or cedar top.

After the creation of the Vihuela, there would be three more stages of evolution necessary to arrive at the Flamenco Guitar. The first descendant of the Vihuela was the Baroque Guitar.It became the precursor to the Classical Guitar. From which the Flamenco Guitar evolved.

Equally, if not more fascinating, is the History of Flamenco guitar music and it’s original innovators. Although it’s rarely accurate to place a definite date or time on the “birth” of movement or genre, there are always people and or events of obvious importance.

Three of those people, who each passed the torch of their accomplishments on to the next, were Ramon Montoya, Sabicas, and Nino Ricardo.Although like other guitarists of his day, Ramon Montoya began his career in bars and cafes accompanying singers and dancers, he has the distinction of being the first to feature the guitar as a solo concert instrument. Giving it new, and increased status, by confirming that it had a voice of it’s own. That must be heard.

“Sabicas” – noted for his amazing technique and flawless sense of rhythm, further refined and evolved Montoya’s accomplishments. History also remembers Sabicas as the first guitarist of his genre to introduce genuine Flamenco Music Internationally.

The saddest note in the formative History of the Flamenco Guitar was sounded with the premature death from liver failure of Nino Ricardo. “Little” Ricardo, hailed as the foremost guitarist of his day, began his career composing and playing in the bars of his native Seville. Those long years, in those conditions, quite probably contributed to the illness that was to claim him at age 68. Nino’s upwardly curving fingernails produced a truly individual tone that other guitarists, try as they did, were unable to duplicate.

The evolution and innovation of the Flamenco Guitar Music we enjoy today, is a direct legacy from the accomplishments of these three “Flamenco Innovators.”

About the Author

The author has a passion for the arts. particularly the music of the flamenco guitar.

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