Flamenco guitarist pushed by Picasso art

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This article was published 16/11/2011 (5444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Forty years ago, young flamenco guitarist Juan Martín was asked to perform at the 90th birthday party of legendary painter Pablo Picasso.

Martín, then in his early 20s, and Picasso were both from the same city in Andalusia, Spain.

The musician arrived at the celebration expecting to perform his well-practised repertoire. But a clutch of arty hangers-on — sycophants, as Martín calls them — insisted he do something else.

“They said, ‘Just improvise to the paintings on the wall,'” Martín recalls from a stop on the western Canadian tour that brings him to the West End Cultural Centre on Thursday. “I was about to disappear out the back door when they pulled me back.”

Agreeing to play the revelers’ game would prove to be a pivotal decision. A decade later, the musical “sketches” Martín created in response to the artworks evolved into his debut album, Picasso Portraits, released in 25 countries.

“I think if you get the essence of a visual concept, you can translate it into music,” he says.

How did Picasso react at the party?

Martín says the elderly artist saw exactly how he was being fawned over and pressured. “When people were fussing around, he would smile and give me a wink. He was very ironic — quite a fox. He was a wily Andalusian.”

Martín, 63, is now a virtuoso, twice ranked by Guitar Player magazine as one of the world’s top three guitarists. He has recorded albums in flamenco styles from traditional to contemporary, played with jazz greats Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and been dubbed “the leading flamenco guitarist of his generation” by Britain’s The Guardian.

He has taken a special interest in the Moorish roots of the passionate flamenco style. One of his albums is called El Alquimista (The Alchemist).

“Alchemists took base metals and turned them into precious things, didn’t they?” he says. “I’ll take the great tradition of flamenco, and with my compositions, hopefully I’ll turn it into a precious metal.”

With his British wife, Martín spends about a third of the year in London, a third in Spain and a third on tour. He has played Winnipeg once before. For his performance Thursday he’ll be joined by his ensemble: a female singer, a pair of fiery, foot-stamping dancers, a percussionist and a flute/clarinet player.

He owns at least 20 guitars. But like Paco de Lucia, another flamenco great who passed through Winnipeg recently, he refers to the dependable instrument he has on the tour as his “wife.”

“It’s one that I always go back to. There’s a couple of guitars you get enamoured with for a day, and then you remember the qualities of the wife.”

Years ago, a student told Martín he should write an instructional book to share his flamenco technique. The resulting El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra has been a worldwide bestseller, now in its 15th printing. Martín has also released instructional videos.

Everywhere he tours —- Iran, Beijing, Siberia, Yellowknife — he meets people who have learned to play by his method. “Today I met a guy from Lethbridge who’s been teaching all his students with my books,” he says.

“Most guitarists won’t give away their secrets. There are certain Gypsy guitarists in Spain who won’t even teach their own children.

“But I felt that was not helping it get out to the world. We need to spread this art and make it more universal…. Rather than just being the big star and keeping it all for yourself, you give something back. And it actually makes your career more solid in the end.”

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Concert Preview

Juan Martín & His Ensemble

West End Cultural Centre

Thursday at 8 p.m.

Tickets $20 at 783-6918; $25 at the door