I have 7 pieces by Manolo de Huelva, some accompanying Manuel Vallejo.
On YouTube, looking up Manuel Vallejo, there are at least 3 videos where he is accompanied by Manolo de Huelva!
Very old footage, obviously. Manolo's left-hand technique is astounding, and unlike anything I have ever seen. Look up Manuel Vallejo on YouTube and enjoy!!

Thanks. Really nice movie clips. Interesting mix of old players.

Byron

I can't find them. Could you post links to those three videos - I would love to see them. Thanks.

Sure!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAd1NorkKxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvBp_tPE ... re=related

A Bulerias and Malaguena

And, Manuel supposedly with Ramon Montoya and Nino Ricardo. Man, the technique of these guys-------so incredibly loose and relaxed.

So, check out Dracen 10 stuff.

Thanks for that one!
I haven't heared the real thing for a long time.....now i know again why I played flamenco in the first place..

Most interesting. I have to observe that most of these guitarists do not seem to look like the purported guitarist named, almost like some kind of elaborate hoax. Probably it's just that they're all a lot younger than in photos I have seen of them.

One interesting thing I noticed is their right hand position. Some of them played picado with fairly straight fingers, similar to the hand and finger position used when playing the "snap" stroke," sometimes called "martillo," or "hammer stroke," a form of picado where you snap your finger off the string, creating a forceful sound. To keep I and M straight you have to have your hand higher up, and so some of them did not rest P on the sixth string as is customary today, because that would make it a little harder to keep a straight finger.

Another thing I noticed was that "Manolo de Huelva" seemed to be playing that brief tremolo passage in "Malaguenas" using only I and M. It's hard to tell, but it kind of looks that way.

Ramon

Hola,

Prominent Critic I think that you nailed it. These movies are just contemporary recreations, not vintage ones.

Fabricio

Prominent Critic wrote:Most interesting. I have to observe that most of these guitarists do not seem to look like the purported guitarist named, almost like some kind of elaborate hoax. Probably it's just that they're all a lot younger than in photos I have seen of them.

Yes, my immediate inclination was that these were faked. As I said, not one guitarist looks like the named guitarist – that's probably why they all wore those hats, to try to hide their faces a bit. "Vallejo" doesn't look like Manuel Vallejo either.

The guitarists' finger movements do not correspond to the music coming out. Furthermore the left hand is not even pressing on the fingerboard – it's just moving around at random up and down the fingerboard, exactly like someone who's not even a guitarist would do when trying to fake it.

That's also why the right hand and fingers are not in proper position, with straight fingers, etc. And that "shaking hands" bit at the end of each is also patently phony.

The audio clearly is authentic though. I have that very same Manolo de Huelva/Manuel Vallejo Malaguena on a CD, recreated from old 78s.

Ramon

In the Bulerias the guitarist takes his right hand and takes the cigarette out of his mouth ... the guitar is still playing ... what a joke! He gets the sound of playing near the bridge by playing over the sound hole! He is playing notes much higher than the ones I am hearing also more notes than I am hearing.

The Malaguenas is flawed with that quartz battery clock on the wall. As already mentioned interesting tremolo mostly with I & M picato with an occasional A finger included.

Here is a real peach for you! Better shot of the quartz clock and the guitarist changing positions when the music didn't. Also playing picato when we hear chords. Also it is from 1930 but we see the exact same setting as in 1934 Malaguenas. This time we have Ramon Montoya playing using the same over the sound hole style as Manolo. The same zipping up and down the fingerboard and same guitar. I would guess probably both originally were pegheads and either maple or cypress, not rosewood or what ever this guitar is. Very modern looking guitar. Also I question why it didn't have the old style golpeadors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnSQvmVr ... re=related

Watch the arpeggios played as picato.

Here we noticed the same setting as Bulerias. Not seeing a cejilla here although I am hearing chords played with cejilla. Interesting that he never uses the thumb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYqn5ssg ... re=related

Futhermore, "Manolo de Huelva" is a joke, since the real Manolo never held his right hand in that position, but rather favored his thumb.

On top of all the comments that have been made on this, they would like us to imagine that Manuel Vallejo sat there, and miraculously half a dozen of the best guitarists of the day just happened to come strolling by one by one just in time to play for him. The single setting is enough to give it all away.