Manolo Sanlúcar, born Manuel Muñoz Alcón in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, in 1943, is one of the greatest guitarists flamencos of all time. Some of his creations, such as Medea, Tauromagia or Trebujena, are as well-known as the best works of Falla or Turina. Retired from the stage since 2013, the maestro stars in the second installment of the series El Loco del Flamenco. Enjoy these chilling reflections in the attached video.
Letter to Manolo Sanlúcar
Dear teacher:
Friends are like a second family that you choose and I decided decades ago that I wanted to be like your family. It is not easy to be friends with a music genius, being a critic of flamenco, but I boast of being one as much as I do of being from Arahal or of having had the parents I had. There was always something inside me that encouraged me to meet you personally and one day I received a letter from you, on March 2, 1990, in which you thanked me for the criticism I made of the presentation of bullfighting at the Lope de Vega Theater of Sevilla.
I opened the letter with fear because I thought you were going to call me ignorant or something, but no. It was a kind and complimentary letter, with a humility that made my skin crawl. You ended it by saying:
Thank you, dear friend, and I hope to be worthy of your trust and never let you down..
I swear I had to sit down, because I found it hard to accept such humility from one of the greatest musicians I have ever known, and for me the most complete guitarist of all time. I called you to thank you for the letter and you invited me to your Sanlúcar farm, Black Horse, to meet in person. From that day on we have had a healthy, serious and sincere friendship, without being conditioned at all by the fact that you are a god of music and art in general, and I am just a humble critic of flamenco.
«These days I have listened to all your recorded work, and something else, and I have asked myself alone in my office what would have become of the flamenco Without that work, without all those musical pieces that together are a true treasure of Andalusian culture.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to him. flamenco if certain artists, their creators, had dedicated themselves to something else. For example, Silverio Franconetti, the Sevillian of Italian blood who one day saw the possibilities that this art had and opened a new path to take it around the world. He was criticized, sometimes humiliated and even insulted, but that path opened doors to the dignification of art. jondo and its professionals, although Silverio does not have a single one peña flamenca in their land. Very typical of Andalusia.
I could go on with Juan Breva, Mr. Antonio Chacon, Manuel Torres, Javier Molina, the Girl with the Combs, Paco the Barbero, Pepe Marchena, Ramón Montoya, Sabicas, Manuel Vallejo, Niño Ricardo, Antonio Mairena, Juan Valderrama, Pepe Martínez, la Argentinita, Antonio the Dancer, Carmen Amaya, Antonio Gades, Matilde Coral, Farruco, Enrique Morente, Paco de Lucía, Camarón, Cristina Hoyos, Fosforito, Manuela Carrasco, Serranito…
Manolo Sanlúcar, in Black Horse. Photo: perezventana
What would have become of the flamenco without them, maestro? Of the guitar, for example, if instead of falling in love with this instrument and having a father who played, fate had made you born in the house of a fisherman and you had decided to have a small boat with which to sell haddock, corvina or cuttlefish in the Plaza de Abastos of Sanlúcar.
Surely when you started you didn't imagine how important it would be for you to be a guitarist. And not just another one, but one of the greatest in history. These days I have listened to all your recorded work, and a little more, and I have asked myself alone in my office what would have become of this music without that work, without all those musical pieces that together are a true treasure of Andalusian culture.
Are you aware of the huge number of musicians in the world who have become musicians thanks to this work and the number of lovers of it? jondo who fell in love with this pellizco in the Andalusian soul, which is the flamenco, why did they rub your music on their skin until they bled? Perhaps you will never fully understand how indispensable you have been, and still are, perhaps more than ever.
«There is a lot of you in every guitarist today. And not just falsetas or mechanisms, but mentality, love and passion for the guitar»
There is a lot of you in every guitarist today. And not just falsetas or mechanisms, but mentality, love and passion for the guitar beyond the privilege of being able to make a living from it. Without you, without your talent, without your dedication and, above all, your immense generosity, the guitar, flamenco music in general, would be a different story.
One day many years ago I was in the Triana house of Rafael Riqueni and I told him about you. I told him that I loved your music and that meeting you in person had been one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me in this life. He picked up his guitar and, with wet eyes, played a piece of yours that I will never forget: orange blossoms. Your Colombian, so fresh and harmonious, that it sounded like heaven to me in what was the Cava de los Gitanos de Triana, where Caganchos y Bald They beat each other up in the hot early mornings on the other side of the Betis River.
I have celebrated each of your successes as if they were my own and I have been saddened by those bad moments that life had in store for you, which are not worth mentioning. I am not going to go into whether you are more or less recognized, because we already know what these things are about in Spain, dear maestro. I prefer to spend my time enjoying your music and the many things you have said without a guitar in your hands. Your contributions go far beyond the guitar, the stage and the paraphernalia. And they are already part of human thought.
Thank you for being and being there, for feeling and giving, and for opening the door of your house to me every time I have wanted to go see you. Thank you for giving so much in exchange for almost nothing. Well, the truth is that there are many creatures in the world who think the same as this humble critic. flamenco: that you are an essential part of music, of flamenco and committed thought. God keep you, Don Manuel. And long life, because the day you leave, what was given is over.
Manolo Sanlúcar chats with Manuel Bohórquez in the living room of his residence in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Photo: perezventana
