 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
The Córdoba Guitar Festival was founded by Paco Peña, exactly thirty years ago and is now one of the great places to see and learn the three important aspects of flamenco; Cante, the song; Baile, the dance; and Guitarra, guitar playing.
The host city of course is Córdoba, Paco Peña’s birthplace and home to a thriving flamenco scene. The city of Córdoba is slightly larger than Canberra with about the same population. It is smaller than its two famous neighbours, Seville to the West and Granada to the South East.
The Córdoba Guitar Festival is an annual and world famous event that takes place during the first fortnight in July and attracts the worlds best guitarists, teachers, craftsmen, composers and performers.
Great flamenco guitarists known to frequent the festival have included Paco Peña, Paco de Lucía, Manolo Sanlúcar, Tomatito, Vicente Amigo, José A. Rodríguez, Paco Serrano and Sabicas. But this legendary line-up of famous names extends into other genres to include B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, The Pretenders, John Fogerty, John Mayall, Pat Metheny, Gary Moore, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern, Toquinho, Raimundo Amador, John Scofield, Joe Satriani, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford and many more.
The festival is considered, by many, to be ‘the best place‘ to learn and polish your flamenco guitar skills, with stages and areas devoted to guitar making and courses for a varied range of playing styles. Each night there are world class performances by world-famous guitarists, flamenco guitar legends, flamenco dance and performance troupes, and chart topping bands. The Córdoba Guitar Festival also includes presentations, conferences, panel discussions, cinema screenings, book launches, exhibitions and awards.
Celebrating it’s 30th anniversary this year, The Córdoba Guitar Festival is bigger and better than ever.
Some of the headline performance acts in 2010 include; Compañía de Javier Latorre, Eva Yerbabuena, Paco de Lucía, Placebo, Mark Knopfler, Deep Purple, Johnny Winter and Joe Bonamassa.
The big event for visiting flamenco guitarists is the chance to learn directly from Manolo Sanlúcar one of flamenco’s greatest living guitar legends. As the course director of “Naturaleza y Forma de la Guitarra Flamenca” (Nature and Form of the Flamenco Guitar), Manolo Sanlúcar and three other instructors will spend thirty six hours with fifty flamenco guitarists over nine days.
Someone who has studied extensively with Maestro Sanlúcar is Professor Corey Whitehead of the California State University, Fresno. Dr Whitehead runs what has long been considered the best flamenco guitar program in the United States. Offering students a degree in music performance with an emphasis in flamenco guitar.
As part of an interview we will be publishing soon on flamencoaustralia.org, Corey stressed the importance of Manolo Sanlúcar’s annual course in Córdoba, “I want to reiterate, the best way to learn flamenco is to spend quality time in Spain at the Córdoba Guitar Festival. Anyone who would like to meet with me in person in Córdoba may find me there at the Hotel Boston in the Plaza de las Tendillas where in the “Reloj de Córdoba” Juan Serrano’s Music has chimed on the hour and quarter-hour since 1960. I stay there because Maestro is always reminding me to stay hard at work each time the clock strikes. I will be there for the duration of the festival July 5th-25th, 2010. Nos vemos en Córdoba!”
During the festival, The Flamenco Professor will be sharing his access with us by way of some exclusive live updates, thoughts, concepts, philosophy and observations from inside the Córdoba Guitar Festival 2010.
As usual the programme is split into two components:
Registration for any of the flamenco courses may include free entrance into the flamenco shows in the Gran Teatro. Registration to two or more courses will come with greater access to concerts and discounts on concert tickets.
Editor’s Note #2: “We hope this helps you if your planning a trip to Spain in the near future. Other great flamenco pilgrimages include the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla (September 2010) , Festival Flamenco de Jerez (Feb/March 2010), Carme de las Cuevas (Granada any time) and of course there is always the next Córdoba Guitar Festival (July 2011) - all great reasons to start saving for the $2000 airfare from Australia. Look out for our series of articles on Flamenco Guitar with Professor Corey Whitehead.”
Official website » The Córdoba Guitar Festival
Facebook comments:
Amazing site look
An amazing report on an excellent festival. Thanks for all the information!
Here is a detailed WORKSHOP REGISTRATION GUIDE for the Córdoba Guitar Festival 2010.
http://flamencoaustralia.org/lessons/guitar/cordoba-guitar-festival-workshops-registration-guide/
An amazing report on an excellent festival. Thanks for all the information!