Ricardo Miño - Flamenco De Concierto Guitarra (LP, Album, Gat)

Media Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)

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General notes about this release (please note: our version may differ a little. see the comments above):

℗ 1976 Claves

Gatefold sleeve

Ricardo Miño, guitar 
Ricardo Miño was born in Seville in 1949. Despite the fact that he was born in the heart of the flamenco country of Seville, la cava de los gitanos, he was the first member of his family to choose flamenco as a profession. Like so many other young Andalusians, he was fascinated by flamenco art, an art peculiar to the Andalusians. Ricardo was to be found wherever there were leading flamenco artists and he very soon fell under the spell of that magnificent instrument - the flamenco guitar. 
He had already achieved great fame throughout Spain at an early age and for two years accompanied Pépé Marchena, one of the best known of contemporary flamenco singers. He also took part in flamenco festivals in Cordoba, Seville and Grenada, the acknowledged centres where the art flourishes and where competitions are held every three years in all aspects of the art - singing, guitar playing and dancing. 
At the last Cordoba festival he won the first price for guitar thus adding his name to the outstanding exponents of the flamenco guitar. Contracts flooded in and he performed in many countries, not only in Europe, but also in Latin America and many oriental countries. 
From 1969 onwards he was a regular performer at the Fiesta Gitana, the biggest flamenco event outside Spain itself, and as first guitarist made many tours with the company in leading world concert halls. 
But his playing is not solely confined to the accompani ment of singing and dancing: Ricardo Miño has also done many solo performances with resounding success. He has thus demonstrated that he belongs to a new race of flamenco guitarists who do not confine themselves to ac companiment, but also see their instrument as a means of solo interpretation with almost limitless possibilities

Flamenco concert flamingo
In flamenco the guitar was originally used to accompany singing and dancing. The technique is extremely difficult and differs in important ways from classical guitar playing. A marked feature of flamenco playing is the mastery of tempo-compas'. With a good flamenco artist this mea sure comes, as it were, from his subconscious, without the intervention of conscious thought. What he plays is not part of a composition in the classical sense. The flamenco guitarist uses the word toque to describe the whole art of flamenco-the traditional singing and dancing and this is further defined by what he himself plays. 
Melodic variations introduced into the toque are called falsetas and require various righthand techniques known as rasgueos. There are many of these and they the basis of flamenco guitar playing. One of the rasgueos for example, consists of sliding the fingers over each string separately in one continuous movement, resulting in a kind of 'droning' sound. The thumb of the right hand also has an extremely important function in flamenco guitar technique and special effects can be achieved with it. 
Other techniques that can be mentioned are the picado, the arpegio, and the tremolo and in flamenco guitar techni que are performed as follows: The picado consists chiefly of the rapid plucking of one string alternately by the index and middle finger, the middle and the third finger, or the index and third finger. The arpegios are executed by the thumb plucking the bass string, plus a given high toned string, alternated by two, three of four fingers
Left hand technique is reserved for chords and ligado. The ligado occurs when a finger is slid over a string and lifted to produce a tone. For this all the fingers but not the thumb are used. This technique is most important in flamenco guitar playing. Until about 20 or 30 years ago all flamenco guitarists used this technique exclusively to accompany singing and dancing. 
Ramon Montoya (1880-1955), himself an eminent guitarist-deserves the credit for having drastically revised the role of the flamenco guitarist as simply an accompanist. Influenced by classical guitar playing he applied some of the classical techniques to flamenco playing, in particular to the tremolo, the arpegio and the picado. The left hand also became stronger and more complex. This gave rise to a style of guitar playing known in flamenco as flamenco de concierto. Although it has absorbed many classical influen ces it has remained predominantly flamenco. 
However great the virtuosity thus introduced, the compas (tempo) always has to be respected and the duende-a flamenco expression meaning 'inner dignity'-has to be preserved. Every good flamenco guitar player is in fact a composer, spontaneously weaving his emotions into what he is playing. 
In Ricardo Miño we have one of our most brilliant contem porary guitar players, a follower of the flamenco de concierto, and it is on this recording that he demonstrates in his own inimitable way his inspiration by traditional Andalusian songs.

1. Granainas 
The Granainas is a form of the fandango found in Grenada. The fandango is one of the oldest forms of song in fla menco and was originally a dance accompanied by singing. In view of Arab influences we can speak of a hybrid Arab Andalusian art form. The Granainas is in free-tempo style and affords many opportunities for melodic variations. 
2. Zapateado 
Originally the Zapateado was a composition by the violin ist/composer Sarasate (1844-1908) which was adopted by flamenco and used to enable a dancer to display his virtuosity. Here the guitar is solely an accompanying in strument. However, flamenco guitarists have arranged the melody in order to enrich the repertoire of the flamenco guitar. 
3. Gypsy Zorongo 
The Zorongo is an Andalusian melody which has been in cluded in the flamenco repertoire by Garcia Lorca. The Zorongo gitano consists of two parts, each with a different tempo and rhythm: the first part has the slow tempo of the Tientos and the second the tempo of the faster Bulerias. 
4. Rondeñas 
Originally, the Rondeñas were pure gipsy songs, sung everywhere by gipsies in Spain, although they acquired their name from Ronda, a small town in the mountains of southern Spain, one of the centres of flamenco. Again, it is due to the greatest gipsy guitarist of them all, Ramon Montoya, that the Rondeñas were absorbed into flamenco in their present form. Whereas Montoya can be regarded as the precursor of the new school of flamenco guitarists practising the 'Flamenco de concierto', the Rondeñas are considered to be a test of the skill of the really great flamenco guitarist.
5. Malagueñas y Verdiales 
Like the Granainas, the Malagueñas and the Verdiales are forms of the fandango and, as their name implies, originate in Malaga and Verdial. The Malagueñas are serious in mood and slow in tempo and the modulations like fine filigree, this in contrast to the Verdiales, which are rapid and gay and are therefore played to round off the Malagueñas. 
6. Alegrias
Alegria means 'gaiety'. The Alegrias are emerged from the Napoleonic wars when the people of Aragon fled to Cadiz and settled there. The Alegrias are often called 'the Jota of Cadiz', the Jota being the national art of song of the pro vince of Aragon. The Alegrias adopted the tempo of the Soleares and whereas the major chords accentuate the gaiety, they are contrasted by some passages in the minor key-a reflection of the melancholy of the Soleares. 
7. Cancion
A popular Andalusian song-in free tempo-arranged by Ricardo Miño. It is clearly noticeable here that a fairly con siderable body of flamenco music came originally from Andalusian folk songs, which were under strong Arab influence. 
8. Soleares 
The word 'soleares' is derived from the word 'soledad', meaning solitude. The Soleares is one of the two types of song upon which flamenco is based. The time is a 10/12 tempo. Generally, the mood of the Soleares is grave and solemn and should end in that mood, as it does here. 
9. Bulerias 
Of all flamenco songs the Bulerias is the most metrical, the most rhythmic and the most gipsy in character. The word 'buleria' is derived from 'buleriar', to ridicule. The tempo is the same as that of the Soleares, although it is tonally much more complicated, whereby two series of chords are used -major and minor. The Bulerias is perhaps the most complex and most difficult of all for the flamenco guitarist to interpret.

A1. Granainas / Amanecer En Granada 5:58
A2. Zapateado / Manton De Manila 4:20
A3. Zorongo Gitano 4:30
A4. Rondenas / Recuerdo A Don Ramon Montoya 6:42
B1. Malaguenas Y Verdiales 6:39
B2. Alegrias / Homenaje A Pepe Montes 5:12
B3. Cancion 3:15
B4. Soleares / Castillo De Alcala 4:30
B5. Bulerias / Mi Inspracion 2:52

Barcode and Other Identifiers:

Rights Society ML

Pressed By Turicaphon Riedikon
Printed By Druck AG
Recorded At Tonstudio Van Geest
Mastered At Tonstudio Rico Sonderegger