Gualberto - "A La Vida, Al Dolor" {Spain} [1975] (Flamenco Rock/Sitar Fusion/Progressive)

01. Cancion de la primavera (3:05)
02. Cancion del agua (4:00)
03. Cancion de las nieves (3:51)
04. Cancion del arco iris (3:23)
05. Cancion de las gaviotas (9:56)
06. Terraplen (3:47)
07. Prisioneros (8:45)
08. Tarantos (para Jimi Hendrix) (3:33)
09. Dialogo interior (6:46)

- Gualberto / flamenco guitar & Sitar
- Antonio Diaz / acoustic guitar
- Tod Purcell / guitar
- Arthur Wolh / violin
- Willie Rodriguez de Trujillo / drums & percussions
- Carlos Carcamo (Granada) / flute
- Enrique Morente / voice

INTRODUCTION :
Very unique about Gualberto is that he plays flamenco guitar with his sitar. In this way flamenco takes a step back to its roots.

From an interview with Gualberto & Ricardo Mino (flamencoworld.com) :
"The North of India has muslim influences, that's the reason behind its adornments, we're talking about the arabesque Hindu music, the hindustani music; the other kind is much older, the carnatic southern music", says Gualberto, totally in love with the vina, an instrument that "it's the mother of the sitar, bigger, with very high frets, and does a lot of adornments, like the melismas of the cante jondo. We were in Luxembourg a month ago, and I bought a record in which there is a raga written to be played with the vina. According to the experts, that's the origin of flamenco. It's called "bairabi" and it has the flamenco scales. It even has a part that is just like a "seguiriya"". The bairabi is 2500 years B.C., adds Gualberto while Ricardo leans his head."

It happened before that some Eastern figures like in Pakistan recognised similar origins in music as in flamenco. It is known history that many gypsies have origins in the East and this can be still traced in some of their music.

Gualberto introduced the sitar in his legendary group Smash at first in the early seventies, recorded after having studied in the US a few more progressive composed albums in the mid seventies, did some collaborations at the end of the seventies and recorded a few guitar, voice, sitar combinations in the last twenty years. Thanks to his contribution to the flamenco with full of respect to his origins he opened the way to more possibilities in expressions.

GUALBERTO : A LA VIDA AL DOLOR (1975)****

The first solo album of Gualbertp seems to have two kinds of sites, also musically. "A la vida" is a more Steve Lake (ELP) like songs and "al dolor" contains a flamenco rock song with highlights of like the flamenco with sitar at "Terraplén" and some electric association at "Tarantos (para Jimi Hendrix)" from which it was never clear to me to where the association with Hendrix exactly referred to. But it is probably because for Gualberto he diged inti this new experience of introducing new combination. In that track he introduced (not for the first time in history, but by a flamenco artist perhaps) an electric guitar into the flamenco too, but I wonder if it was more than an ode.

Full Biography, Discography & Reviews :
http://progressive.homestead.com/GUALBERTO.html


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