ALMORAIMA TRACK BY TRACK

Almoraima
La cueva del Gato.
Cobre
A la Perla de Cádiz
Ole
Plaza Alta
Río Ancho
Llanos del Real

Almoraima
Real Audio

The title track "Almoraima" has nothing to do with the aforementioned groups, although this bulería lasting five minutes and twenty-four seconds does bear their influence. Upon a first listening, the aficionado may think that it involves difficult technique, but this is not the case. Its structure is based on the por medio position. That is, A major and B flat major are the chords used in the rhythmic base, demonstrating Paco's faithfulness to the teachings of Ricardo and Sabicas. With the capo at the second fret, the music for "Almoraima" is actually heard in B major and C major. The track begins with an entire compás of muted guitar, which Paco divides into three parts, in Jerez style. At this point, he plays a falseta heard previously in his accompaniment of Camarón, on the bulería "Con roca de pedernal". This idea places the same muted idea on the bass strings. It is an ordinary alzapúa in A major, thickened with the extra bass string at the fifth fret. This sensation of fullness is surprising when bearing in mind that the only tonal variation is found in a repetition of this same technique in G minor. The shockingly simple move is perhaps the most outstanding feature of the whole track.

Paco quickly compensates for the introduction on the bass strings with another great idea on the trebles. He mixes picado (alternating index and middle for single-note lines) with a downwards three-note arpeggio, offering playing that is stunning for the hands, but less so for the ears, since the tempo of the bulerías rhythm is quite slow. At this pace, he is able to include more notes than usual. The chord progression passes from A major to C major to B flat, closing the cycle by returning to A major. He plays the remate on the first string, with a slur that pulls off from the fifth fret to the third, the first, and, finally, the open string. Clearly, he has remained within the harmonic school of his mentors. Up until this point, only his right hand has moved on to new territory.

From this point on, the maestro uses the same format: one phrase after another without stopping. But the appearance of another alzapúa-an unusual technique at that time-brings on the muted strumming once again. All the falsetas follow the calculated approach that he acquired from Ricardo, alternating the placement of ideas on bass and treble strings.

In the final twenty seconds we hear a passage that perfectly fulfills the guitarist's proposal: traditional melody and harmony with revolutionary technique (Sabicas and Smash). This is the explanation for the title of the piece; Paco never names his compositions gratuitously. He plays another picado at the tenth fret, second string (a B note), to which he adds constant vibrato, in a clear reference to Arabic music, through the use of an instrument called an ud. The track slowly fades out, in accordance with Renaissance theory: masterpieces never have an ending, since the beholder adds the final note, and forms a part of the message. However, it should be remembered that this same concept in bulerías for guitar had been developed a year earlier by Niño Miguel on a piece titled "Vinos y caballos", included on another Polygram recording.

La cueva del Gato.
Real Audio

The second piece from the album, "La cueva del Gato", stands apart from "Almoraima" in all senses. With this rondeña lasting five minutes and forty-two seconds, Paco pays homage to the creator of this guitar style, Ramón Montoya. But, once again, he does so in the pattern of his mentors: They had stated that the toque abandolao is played por arriba, in E major/F major, and Paco was not one to disobey them. He even plays without capo, so that, in the sheet music, these chords appear as the rhythmic base. But this was not enough for the maestro. His fretboard wizardry led him to discover a chord equivalent to E major that opens a new harmonic road to composition. The chord is a D minor barred at the second fret of the sixth string, with an A flat. He begins the piece with this position, playing ad lib for the first half of the track. Apart from this, Paco again breaks the mold with a breathtakingly crystalline five-note tremolo lasting over a minute. He plays this on the first string, using passing chords of A minor, G major, F major, and E major. At the halfway point of "La cueva del Gato", we hear the rhythm pick up with an upwards three-note arpeggio on the first, second, and third strings over A, G, F, and E. And once again, a wonderful surprise: thumb-stroked glissandos over several frets. Don Francisco Sánchez is able to pass from the third fret to the first, making it sound as if the striking finger were sliding over the fretboard. He demonstrates once more that he has surpassed his mentors in technique, but not in harmony. Until this moment he has only created an E chord. But what an E chord!

Cobre
Real Audio

Paco de Lucía is perhaps the only guitarist that has played in concert all the styles that exist in flamenco. For this reason, the sevillanas style was included in "Almoraima". But this decision was also influenced by the fact that his friend and recording colleague Niño Miguel had also recorded this style a year earlier in his "Recuerdo a la Virgen del Rocío". This might lead one to think that "Cobre" could be a homage to Niño Miguel, but only Paco knows for sure.

"Cobre" lasts three minutes and nine seconds. But each sevillana is developed according to the maestro's demands for the piece, and avoids symmetries. All of them are played open, the first in E major and B major. The guitarist does not use basic chords here, but two equivalents that were traditional at that time, taken from a creation of Ramón Montoya. The first is a B, barred at the second fret in A major position; and the second is an E, barred at the fourth fret in C position. Paco adds a series of arpeggios to these chords in the first two tercios. But his innovation is heard in the last idea, where he is supported by the playing of his brother Ramón, with a fugue for two voices, one playing the falseta on the bass strings, the other on the trebles.

The same idea is heard in the second sevillana, the basic chords for which are E major/F major, played in a traditional manner on this occasion. It should be pointed out, once again, that there is not as much revolution here as the listener might imagine; only certain details, like the remate of this sevillana, also in a fugue for two, where Paco adds a tremendous alzapúa to the modal accompaniment.

The structure is repeated in the second sevillana, with rhythmic support of E minor and B major. But before concluding, Paco de Lucía leaves another testimony of his skill: the fourth sevillana is played over C sharp/D major. The chords are well-known, but no one until this time had ever considered creating a sevillana with them. Once again, he squeezes out new harmonic concepts in the style by combining elements learned from his two mentors.

A la Perla de Cádiz
Real Audio

The fourth track from the recording, "A la Perla de Cádiz", is a cantiña lasting four minutes and twenty-six seconds. The genius from Algeciras dedicated this piece to a cantaora that he met through his work with Camarón (she was a relative of el de la Isla). Logically, Paco plays it in the key in which Perla sang this style: E major/B major without capo. As a true homage, the first thing heard is a chorus of men and women singing the traditional "tirititrán". Paco surprises us once more, because the piece does not start with traditional chording, but a reference to the mirabrás style, strumming in rhythm over A major and G sharp major, finishing in E major/B major. There is really nothing new to this track, apart from the melody, as is logical for a great composer. The falsetas reflect the so-called "estilo salinero" on the treble strings. In the silencio, we might consider that there is innovation, since chords are used rather than phrases, but things then go back to normal with a perfectly traditional escobilla to which Paco adds two notes to each arpeggio: instead of the normal three, the maestro does it with five. The track finishes with a fade out that, once again, includes the listener as part of the message.

Ole
Real Audio

At this stage of the recording, Paco de Lucía has said nearly all that he has to say. However, in the jaleos titled "Ole", lasting four minutes and eighteen seconds, he establishes a rhythmic model used afterwards by many guitarists, the most recent being Vicente Amigo, in the track "Tatá", from "Ciudad de las ideas". The idea is to divide the bulerías rhythm into four strummed sub-rhythms of three beats each. On the third beat, the chorus sings: "ole". There is little more to be commented here, except for the fact that it is played por medio -A and B flat, with the capo at the third fret, resulting in the chords of C major and D flat.

Plaza Alta
Real Audio

The man from Algeciras is a great admirer of the soleá. For that reason, he usually includes this style in his recordings, although he is aware that it is a style that is not particularly attractive for inexperienced listeners. In this case, the title is "Plaza Alta", lasting six minutes and twelve seconds. It is played with the capo at the second fret in E and F positions, resulting in F sharp and G chords. The piece has practically no base rhythm, consisting, instead, of a long series of phrases with a wide variety of techniques. The most important of them is the five-note tremolo, lasting over a minute. The rest is once again based solidly on tradition. So solidly, in fact, that the new element introduced here is the acceleration of the rhythm, exactly three minutes into the track, converting the style in a soleá por bulerías that ends with a fade-out, as heard in much of the maestro's work.

Río Ancho
Real Audio

There is not much to say about the rumba "Río Ancho", since it is little more than a continuation of "Entre dos aguas", from his recording "Fuente y Caudal". The success of this piece caused Paco to repeat the same structure for the new track. Although the two differ melodically, the rest of the concepts are identical. The track lasts four minutes and twenty-nine seconds, played without capo over a rhythmic base of E minor/B major.

Llanos del Real
Real Audio

For the conclusion of this recording, don Francisco Sánchez chose "Llanos del Real", a superb minera. The base chords were created by Ramón Montoya to distinguish this style from the taranta, for the reason that the two singing styles entail different pitches. Although this is arguable-the pitches are exactly the same, it is only a matter of transposition-, Paco, knowing this, remains respectful and labels the track in accordance with the idea of Montoya. The taranta is normally played in F sharp/G major; while the minera, as in this case, is played in G sharp major and A major. With this base, Paco gives us three minutes and thirty-seven seconds of pure creation. The initial tremolo lasts nearly a minute, and is played on the first and second strings. The idea here is the following: As the piece progresses, the arpeggio is used-within the base chords-to adjust the piece to the taranto rhythm. In the end, it becomes a bulería that trails off into silence...