To my sadness, i was unable to go to the Congreso on Diego del Gastor last year.
I haven't commented on what very little I now of it, because I was waiting for some published stuff to come out
I haven't seen any yet. So I will make one small comment.
Part f the Congreso included a roundtable discussion with three American "Moroneses"
To my mind, there could not have been a better choice of people (and certainly there could have been a lot lot worse)
David Serva was, of course, Diego's best foreign student. It is hard to even call him American anymore since he has made his home in Madrid ganando su vida with the guitar for decades.
Jill Snow is an old time Moronie , though leaving for Lebrija and Sevilla after marrying Pedro Bacan. She is also wonderful as a person.
Paul Shalmy lived in Moron for a very long time, and then afterwards for a long time in Sevilla

All three are super-knowledgeable about flamenco, about Moron. They are not hysterical in what they say (as even sometimes I am ) and, if anything, might be usually too publically quiet about what they know (Though when I "entered" aficion, I was told that was the attitude one ought to take).Thus, sometimes the public remarks we read and hear about Diego ,Moron toque, and the foreigners who came there come not from such Morrn cabales-people , but from (to mix metaphors) "hysterical squeaking wheels" or from people who were there but not quite "really there"
I cannot speak about anyone else who was at the Congreso except based on their writings. Gonazalez-Caballos martinez "Guitarras de Cal" is a fascinating book on the history of Moron toque. Gerard Steingress, I see was listed as a speaker.To my mind,I don't know why.What I have read of his stuff makes me put on my bookshelf labeled "Eurocrap"

Jacinto, Thanks for sharing this information and insight concerning Moron de la Frontera.

I have never heard David Serva play, but from what I have heard he is the best of any foreign flamenco student that spent time in Moron in the 50's-70's. I have heard the name Jill Snow and Pedro Becan, but do not know much about them.

I wish I could read Spanish better so I could read and understand Angel Sody De Rivas book, Diego del Gastor El Eco De Unos Torques. It has a tree of the Amaya and Flores family and lots of letras in it. Most of the photos I have seen before. One I had not was of Ana Amaya Molina playing an old guitar, apparently giving instructions and another of Diego's parents. It was published 2007 by a Madrid publisher.

Do you know who Angel Sody de Rivas is? Apparently he was there and took many of the photos in the book

I bought a copy of Rivas Sody in Moron when it first came out. I gather new editions are different-with cds , etc The fotos I remember as stock, with a bunch coming from a photographer in Moron who had a shop there and many pictures of Diego
The book at the time was good-considering there wasn't much on Diego (aside from Pohren)around then.There are a few mistakes in the book .One I remember talks about Diego being at a fiesta with Manuel Torre, when I remember Diego saying the nearest he got to Torre is when Diego was young and peeped through a window to watch a fiesta with Torre
I forgot what he said in his chapter on the airbase, but again, there was miniscule connection between the base and Diego and Moron.
I was there when the supposed flying saucer Rivas Sody mentioned landed, but my Spanish was too poor to understand any details
His history of the cement factory of the Marcos-Rojas family is interesting.The book was written well before one
of the family became socialist mayor of Sevilla and his brother became head of hospitals in NYC
Since that book, there has been a lot more written about Diego and Moron toque.More details, more correct chronology, etc For exampe, the book by Martinez :Guitarras de Cal"about Moron toque.The article on the Triste y Azul website I just posed about n paco de Lucena and his connection to Diego, and some others. Beware of articles written by foreigners (including me)-They are more often about "Me and Diego" than about Diego and are usually short on facts about both Diego's history and his place in flamenco during his life.
Some books are heavier on Moron's ancient history-when it was (part of) "Aruncia'
Other interesting fill-in facts are available on Moron's webpage www,morondelafrontera.org (or maybe "com" instead of "org"-I forget)

Hey there!

Just wanted to express a different opinion about the book of Sody de Rivas on Diego. I have read it a few months ago but I found it clearly explained the role that Diego played in the history of flamenco : through the portrait (which seems quite fair and especially matching all I have ever read about the man up to now) of an expceptional guitarist and his constant refusal to become the big superstar he could have become otherwise - this is just my personal opinion, of course - the author gives what seems to be an accurate picture of what flamenco was a that time. Which means, a matter of family and friends enjoying genuine art and gypsy culture as opposed to popular and/or commercial stage flamenco.

Maybe my perception is way too cliche but I really felt a lot more intimate with Diego del Gastor once I read this book than through my internet discoveries. Whatsmore, the book contains a lot of photographs and the cd is also pretty good. In my opinion it is a very good way to discover in depth the excellent guitarist and the interesting person that Diego "del Gastor" Amaya Flores was