atrafana flamenco guitar repertoire

Repertoire

atrafana Repertoire

Below is a list of the pieces I have recorded and shared on my two youtube channels over the last 10 years. Prospective students can either pick and choose from this list or decide on what genre (or genres) of music they wish to be trained in based on the categories I have provided. The pieces enlisted below are only the ones I chose to practise for myself whereas my teaching repertoire is much broader. You can click on the titles to access the youtube videos.

Paco de Lucia

Paco's work makes up the lion's share of my video repertoire. For obvious reasons… Paco de Lucia is the father of modern flamenco and each one of his pieces is like a lesson. Two main challenges in tackling Paco pieces are a) finding faithful transcriptions, b) playing it! As for the former, the internet is chock full of Paco transcriptions in every conceivable format. However, good transcriptions are very hard to come by. I remember so many times picking up the tabs for a piece with excitement only to trash it after playing the first few bars. Even the official transcriptions of Paco de Lucia's albums have mistakes in them. To achieve the full authentic effect of the piece you have to play it exactly the way the maestro is playing it. In conclusion, I end up figuring out the pieces mostly by ear, slowing down videos or sound files, playing sections over and over again to grasp exactly what he is doing, and I can't claim that I succeed every time… As for playing the piece once you've determined the notes and fingering, it takes much patience to make your performance even remotely resemble Paco's. I try my best. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Rio de la Miel (Buleria) - coming soon to Patreon

El Chorruelo (Buleria) - coming soon to Patreon

Soniquete (Buleria) - coming soon to Patreon

El pañuelo (Buleria) - coming soon to Patreon

La Tumbona (Buleria)

Punta Umbria (Fandangos de Huelva)

Fuente y Caudal (Taranta)

De Madrugada (Seguiriya)

Doblan Campanas (Rondena)

Generalife Bajo la Luna

Callejon del Muro (Minera)

Celosa (Solea por Buleria)

Recuerdo a Patiño (Alegria)

Plaza de San Juan (Alegria)

Cepa Andaluza (Buleria)

Gloria al Nino Ricardo (Solea)

Gitanos Trianeros (Solea)

Aires Choqueros (Fandangos de Huelva)

Barrio la Vina (Alegria)

Punta del Faro (Buleria)

El Tempul (Buleria)

Mi Inspiracion (Alegria)

Reflejo de Luna (Granaina)

Llanto a Cadiz (Tiento)

Percusion Flamenca (Zapateado)

Guajiras de Lucia (Guajira)

Rumba Improvisada (Rumba)

Aires de Linares - excerpt (Taranta)

Huida - excerpt (Minera)

Callejon del Muro - excerpt (Minera)

Llanos del Real - excerpt (Minera)

Reflejo de Luna - excerpt (Granaina)

El Tajo / Doblan Campanas - excerpt (Rondena)

Barrio la Vina - excerpt (Alegria)

Paco Peña

Paco Peña is regarded as a proponent of flamenco puro - pure flamenco. Although the notion of pureness in music, as with any form of art, is always up for discussion, it is obvious that Peña's music, compared to other contemporary players, is based more on traditional harmonies and chord progressions. Despite their apparent simplicity, I find Paco Peña's pieces very inspiring and original. He manages to come up with the most beautiful melodies and chord sequences while staying within the boundaries of the old genres of flamenco. A good example is the following excerpt from one of his soleas:

Solea (excerpt)

Also, don't let the minimalism of Peña pieces deceive you into believing that they are easy to play. They are not… In fact the simplicity of Peña's music makes it harder to play as it doesn't tolerate mistakes. You have to be perfectly in compas and play every single note with absolute clarity. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Granada en Flor (Buleria)

Acera del Rio (Solea)

Puerto Aguila (Tiento)

Leyenda (Petenera)

Manolo Sanlucar

Manolo Sanlucar is seen as the other pioneer of modern flamenco after Paco de Lucia. He collaborated with Paco on a few pieces. Sanlucar is also very much a "progressive" flamenco player like Paco looking for new harmonies and using unconventional instruments in his music. Vicente Amigo was his apprentice… The following two pieces are from his earlier recordings therefore closer to the traditional harmonies than his more recent stuff. Especially the farruca is one of my favourite flamenco pieces. I always find farruca to be a difficult form to display creativity and make beautiful (unlike, say, buleria). This one does exactly that. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Farruca
Andares Gaditanos (Zapateado)

Esteban de Sanlucar

Esteban de Sanlucar (1910-1989) is known from Paco de Lucia's interpretation of his two popular pieces, Panaderos and Mantilla de Feria. I've never heard Sanlucar himself play but his compositions are interpreted by many flamenco and classical players worldwide. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Panaderos
Mantilla de Feria
Perfil Flamenco

Mario Escudero

Although Escudero (1928-2004) was quite an accomplished flamenco player with many beautiful compositions, he has never been as popular as de Lucia, Sanlucar, or Pena. His buleria Impetu, however, earned such popularity that it exceeded the fame of its composer and became a classical piece. Unfortunately people usually think Impetu is composed by Paco de Lucia as it was made famous by him. Even Gerardo Nunez plays Impetu on one of his albums. Click on the title to watch it on youtube:

Impetu

Nana (Tremolo)

Classical Guitar

I was trained by conservatory teachers as a classical player. Although I spend most of my practice time working on flamenco pieces these days, my approach to playing guitar is very much shaped by my classical training. The following are a few pieces in the genre of classical guitar. My flamenco technique certainly influences my approach to playing them, such as playing Alhambra with flamenco tremolo or playing flamenco golpes in the Falla piece. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Tarrega)
El Ultimo Tremolo (Barrios)
Children's Song 6 (Chick Corea)
Pavane (Gabriel Faure)
Danza Negra (Antonio Lauro)

Baroque

I was commissioned to record the following two pieces by Bach for the soundtrack of a documentary. I arranged the Art of Fugue for two guitars and played both parts myself. The video shows the notation as well. Playing Bach is very useful in learning music in general. So, I highly recommend it for both classical and flamenco players. You probably cannot find Bach in tabs, though, so better learn standard notation too… Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Prelude from Lute Suite 2 BWV 997 (J. S. Bach)
Art of Fugue (J. S. Bach)

South American

I find South American music on the guitar to be right in-between classical and flamenco. As a player you need both flamenco and classical sensibilities to do justice to South American music. The classical approach to articulating dynamics and a strong flamenco adherence to rhythmical integrity makes a good combination. I wish to play more Nazareth pieces in the future. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Odeon (Ernesto Nazareth)
Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho! (Ernesto Nazareth)
Girl from Ipanema (A. C. Jobim)

Jorge Cardoso

Although Cardoso can be categorized as South American music, I reserved a separate section for him as his music is quite special for me. I had the privilege of studying with Cardoso in the years 90 and 91. I truly enjoy playing Cardoso's pieces as they all share this rare quality: when you listen to them you think they are technically demanding and tricky whereas in fact they just slide through your fingers. This is in contrast to many other compositions that practically break your hands and make the player sound mediocre or incompetent no matter how well they perform. Cardoso composes all his works ON the guitar FOR guitar players. So, he almost never writes passages that require inhuman finger stretches or fast jumps in-between far positions. Therefore, even if you can barely play the piece, it sounds pretty! Also each Cardoso piece refers to a country or region in South America with a specific musical/rhythmical form, very much like flamenco. I think Jorge Cardoso is a perfect composer for the guitar. I highly recommend it for both beginners and pros. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Cancion (Tremolo)
Polca
Valseado
Air de Milonga
Vals Venezolano (Suite Sudamericana)
Vals Venezolano
Bailecito
Samba

Argentine Tango

Again, within the category of South American music, tango deserves a special attention. I have 3 titles so far but wish to play more Piazzolla in the future. Very demanding, technically difficult but quite rewarding in the end. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Taquito Militar (Mariano Mores)
Libertango (Astor Piazzolla)
La Cumparsita (arr. Cacho Tirao)

Original Flamenco Compositions

Having analyzed and dissected, so to speak, many pieces by Paco de lucia, it became difficult to resist the urge to make up my own flamenco music. So far I have published the following pieces but there will be more in the future, My aim is to compose enough material to record an album. Click on the titles to watch them on youtube:

Solea
Buleria
Buleria in D#
Tangos