Reviews

VAF & TCC: Grisha Goryachev, guitar
April 24, 2024, Robin Hixon Theater
Review by John Campbell

This was an anniversary of sorts for Steve and me. On April 24, 2016 in Sevilla, Spain, we experienced the raw intensity of male and female flamenco dancers and a male flamenco singer and a flamenco guitarist in the courtyard of a fifteenth-century house in the historic Barrio Santa Cruz. Now exactly eight years later and thanks to the Virginia Arts Festival and Tidewater Classical Guitar, we were experiencing a Russian born American solo guitarist of overwhelming talent. His skill filled out the experience of flamenco in his own unique way. The first half of the program concentrated on traditional pieces and the second half introduced a newer style.

Mr. Goryachev opened with Guadalquivir, a folk tune originally set by Sabicas (Agustín Castellón Campos, 1912-1990) who chose his own stage name, a common practice for flamenco composers and performers (both singers and dancers). The song is titled for the river that divides Sevilla from the Triana neighborhood where the gypsies used to live and expressed joy and pain in their music. Sabicas left Spain in 1936 during the Spanish civil war and settled in Mexico. Later he lived in New York City and returned to Spain in 1967, having spread flamenco music wherever he performed. In Guadalquivir we heard blazingly fast picados (fast passages of single notes), fast arpeggios and infallible rhythms set a very high standard of performance. Grisha's playing was brilliant.

Wearing a red, open collared shirt, Grisha's spoken introductions and relaxed intensity drew us into the music.The second selection, Impetu (Momentum) (Bulerías*), is by Mario Escudero (1928-2004) and is a gypsy tune from Andalucia and is considered chico, easier to play. It was followed by Los Caireles (beads, fringe) (Zapateado) by Manolo Sanlúcar (1943-2022), who was famous for playing tremolos like running water. We are familiar with Sanlúcar from the ten LP box set Nueva Gran Antologia Flamenca (RCA Madrid, 1979) that Steve transferred to CDs and MP3s this winter.

Then came Malaguena de Lecuona by the Cuban-Spanish composer Ernesto Lecouna. We heard strumming and striking the body of the guitar in this famous melody. Grisha followed with Reflejo de Luna (Reflection of the Moon) (Granadina) with Arabic, gypsy and Celtic influences. After pausing to file his fingernail he played a Cuban farm-worker's song Guajiras de Lucia, a twelve-beat Hispano-American grande (a Cuban peasant dance tune or song whose rhythm shifts from 6/8 to ³/4 time while the eighth note retains the same time value) followed by Aires Choqueros, a Fandango de Huelva with fast finger-picking with heel of hand percussion on the body of the guitar.

We learned that Grisha is a bridge between classical flamenco guitar and the more improvisatory new style developed by Paco de Lucia in the 1970s. Lucia (1947-2014) was born in Algeciras near Gibraltar in southern Spain. Grisha's choice of repertory indicates his great respect for Lucia, playing nine pieces by him in a fifteen piece program. Paco de Lucia is considered flamenco's greatest guitarist who took the traditional genre in a new direction with infusions of jazz, Latin and pop and bought it to a world-wide audience. Grisha Goryachev has the technical skill to continue spreading these innovations.

With a capo on the second fret, he closed the set with Cepa Andaluza (Andalucian stock or lineage) (Bulerías) with wild strumming, foot patting out the rhythm and often smiling down at his instrument until the bold and dramatic closing.

After intermission the repertory shifted to "New Flamenco which is less of place and time and more of spirit, bold invention and farsighted artistry," to quote from Gypsy Soul New Flamenco, a sampler on the NARADA label of fifteen tracks offering a broad spectrum of performers, including Paco de Lucia with his sextet plus pianist Chick Corea. The first selection, Ventanas al Alma (Windows of the Soul) (Minera) was written by Vicente Amigo (b. 1967) and Goryachev described it as heavier and busy in a modern way, but the tune is Andalucian gypsy.

Brisas (Breezes) (Guajira), by composer/guitarist Rafael Riqueni (b.1962), with it's Arabic influence, is a popular song that offered challenges that were beautifully accomplished and had the guitarist patting his foot on the floor. Gerardo Nuñez (b. 1961) wrote Piedras Negras (Black Stones) (Taranta/Soleá por Bulería), highlighted by a very fast tempo that was even more demanding than Lucia's Monasterio de Sal (Monastery of Salt) (Colombiana) , the composer's impression of a church carved out of a salt mine in Columbia, South America that preceded it.

The three songs that concluded the program were also by Lucia. Montiño (hill) (Fandango) is a bright tune that unfolded slowly with fast percussion. La Barrosa (a famous beach in Southwestern Spain) (Alegrias) was intense but brought a smile to my heart. Almoraima (A Moorish tower in southwestern Spain) (Bulerias) is a favorite of Grisha's with a little bit of rock and roll. Almoraima is also the title of a CD by Paco de Lucia available from Philips.

The encore returned to another song by Sabicas, this one used to close the program, the lively Zapateado en Re. A zapateado is a type of Spanish dance music, here in the key of D (re). Zapateado is also an entire category of flamenco as well. With a knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience the whole experience was exhilarating!

*The Spanish words in parenthesis after the song titles denote the catagory of flamenco the song belongs to.