Arturo Pavón, one of the first flamenco pianists
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Chano Domínguez, David Peña Dorantes, Diego Amador and Sergio Monroy are only a few of the names that are spoken about with strength lately in the world of the flamenco piano, which is ever-growing and no longer so small. However, what is the flamenco piano?
The flamenco piano is no more than the performance of flamenco using the piano. Quite simply. There are discrepancies over how flamenco should be played on the piano, whether it should merely be an imitation of the sound of the guitar -the main point of reference from which ideas can be drawn- or whether it should move beyond this, developing a technique and sound that are characteristic of the piano. In my view, both of these facets are perfectly compatible, as they are part of the same process of the development of the flamenco piano.
Origins and evolution
The origin of what is currently known as the flamenco piano dates back to the 19th century, when there was a music that we refer to as "pre-flamenco", which is the sprout of the genre which, some time later, evolved into flamenco as we know it today. At that time, the majority of "pre-flamenco" musical works were either written for the piano as a solo instrument or to accompany singing.
It was common practice in that era to have a piano available in all the places in which this music was played and it was as likely for an aria from an opera to be performed as it was to hear a seguidilla.
However, the early reference with regards to genuinely flamenco piano playing -not "pre-flamenco"- was undoubtedly set by José Romero and Arturo Pavón.
José Romero was the pioneer in bringing guitar playing to the piano, the golpe (blow), the rasgueado (strumming) and all of the sound of the flamenco guitar in general. We can find some good samples of this in his records "Piano flamenco", "Andalucía flamenca", "Formas musicales andaluzas" and "Fantasía suite andaluza iberoamericana". Unfortunately, all of them are currently out of print and they are difficult to get hold of.
On the other hand, Arturo Pavón basically developed the accompaniment of singing and dancing, usually accompanying Manolo Caracol. Outstanding works by Arturo Pavón include the record "Suite flamenca" and the DVD from the series "Rito y geografía del cante" (The rituals and geography of flamenco singing) that is devoted to Manolo Caracol, with Arturo Pavón accompanying him on the piano.
Evolution
The evolution of the flamenco piano up to the present day has, in my opinion, gone down two different routes, which resulted in the establishment of two groups of pianists: a first group has been concerned with transposing traditional flamenco that was played on the guitar to the piano, without any significant musical contributions drawn from other styles. Pedro Ricardo Miño and Javier Coble are the outstanding figures from this group.
The second group is composed by pianists who have incorporated elements that come from different musical genres into flamenco, fundamentally from jazz. This group includes Chano Domínguez, the standard-bearer of this collective, Juan Cortés, Sergio Monroy and Diego Amador.
It appears at least peculiar to observe that the career path of a large majority of them -except for occasional themes in some specific recording or other- has not gone in the direction of the accompaniment of singing or dancing, but rather, has focused on the piano as a solo instrument. In a certain way, the path that was brilliantly traced by Arturo Pavón has not enjoyed continuity.
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