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Core C – NYT: “A Flamenco Master Is His Own Ensemble”, B10, Feb 12, 2007
2/13/2007
a Flamenco master and legend. He put on a masterful performance. This article answers
the question, “What was the best part of the performance?” The answer is that the best
part of the performance was when he was playing solo without any accompaniment.
The headline states that de Lucia was his own ensemble. This is inconsistent with
the article itself because the article clearly states that during the first half of the concert he
was accompanied by drums and two singers. That constitutes an ensemble. During the
second half of the show he was accompanied by, “his entire ensemble.” The only time
when he did not have an ensemble was during the first song, where he did not need an
The article states that musicality was the foremost concern of the concert. This is
misleading because when musicality is the foremost concern of a concert I expect to hear
absolutist music. The vocalists made the music programmatic rather than absolute.
If de Lucia was such a master then the audience would not give a small, “yelping
applause,” when the buleria concluded with a flourish. A true master would have elicited
I question how a flamenco performance can possibly be, “gemlike,” as the author
described this concert. I would understand if there was a lazar show that created images
of gems on the stage but in this case the word, “gemlike” is misleading, as it is