Bulerías, Tangos, Alegrías, Soleares, Seguiriyas, Tarantas, Granadinas. Great flamenco styles from the chico to the jondo are featured on Andy Culpepper's debut album. All with a very personal style and mucho duende.
Andy Culpepper was born and raised near Ithaca, NY. He picked up the guitar at the age of 16 and began to devote himself to mastering all styles of guitar playing, from classical to the blues, before settling on Flamenco as his ideal mode of expression. While attending the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Andy studied with the master guitarist Tito Rubio, a student of the great Juan Maya “Marote”. Andy’s style incorporates elements of both modern and traditional Flamenco, while always striving to maintain the purity and depth of this beautiful art form. Among his greatest influences are Paco de Lucia, Moraito and Pepe Habichuela, as well as the singers Camarón, Fernanda de Utrera, and Pastora Pavón.
From the Ithaca Times:
A Touch of Spain
Pamela Goddard
Contributing writer
Andy Culpepper could hardly avoid growing up steeped in the Ithaca roots music scene. As Sim Redmond's brother, he was exposed to a wide variety of music. And then he heard a recording that changed his life.
"There was this one record that I heard by Manitas de Plata, a great gypsy guitarist," Culpepper remembers. "I was fascinated. I had no idea those kind of things were possible, and I listened to all kinds of guitar music, a lot of blues, jazz and rock. Until that point, I'd never heard something like that. I had to drop everything and learn it."
Andy Culpepper is bringing Spanish gypsy music to the Finger Lakes. The music of Manitas de Plata ("Little Hands of Silver") led him on a worldwide journey and to Ithaca's first homegrown recording of flamenco music. Sol Y Suelo, released in December 2008, includes ten original melodies in a traditional flamenco style. "Nothing that would be offensive to the flamenco purists," Culpepper says.
Sol y Suelo translates to "sun and soil." "It's kind of a tribute to the organic and natural music scene we have here in Ithaca," Culpepper explains. "I grew up with Sim's friends - Crow Greenspun and Jude and everybody. So that influenced me."
Sol Y Suelo showcases Culpepper's mastery of flamenco's signature techniques: plucking, strumming, and tapping in intricate rapid passages. The parenthetical titles of Culpepper's compositions refer to different flamenco song forms: Seguiriyas, taratas, tangos, granadinas, and others. Each has its own rhythm, melodic forms and tonality. Culpepper explains that flamenco is the music of the Andalusian and Sephardic gypsies of southern Spain, with strong influences from Persian and Arabic music. Flamenco music and gypsy culture also have been traced to the Indian subcontinent.
"Everything in flamenco is very guitar oriented," Culpepper says. "Nowadays, a lot of players are searching out new tones, new tunings, and different keys. Traditionally, there's three or four different keys in flamenco. I personally believe that the guitar was made for this music. The guitar is a Spanish instrument, and its evolution has really coincided with flamenco."
Sol Y Suelo's tune titles take listeners on a tour of where Culpepper has lived and what he has seen. Culpepper lives two blocks from Cascadilla Creek, and so named an alegrias after his neighborhood. "Two Lakes" is a tribute to a piece by flamenco virtuoso Paco de Lucia of Cadiz, called "Entre dos Aguas, or Between two Waters." "I felt that was pertinent to this area, since we're among the lakes."
"The Solea Philadelphia" is a tribute to Culpepper's most beloved flamenco teacher, El Maestro Tito Rubio. "He works as a stone mason in South Philadelphia, but he's a really incredible guitarist. A real flamenco character through and through," Culpepper says.
This past January, Culpepper spent two weeks in Spain soaking up more flamenco music and culture. "Not long enough," he says. "I'm dying to get back." While in Spain, he took master classes in Seville from a guitarist known as The Flea. "He was a very generous guy. I recorded almost two hours of him playing." Andy has brought these experiences back to Ithaca to teach other guitar students this rich, technical blend of classical and folk.
Although Sol Y Suelo is named for the light of Central New York, the music is as dark as fertile Finger Lakes farmland. When asked whether this moody and romantic music is a reflection of the composer or the of flamenco style, Culpepper says, "A little bit of both, maybe. That's why I like flamenco so much. I do have that in me. It was something I needed to get out of my system. For the next recording, I'm looking at more upbeat stuff. Flamenco has these aspects. It's dramatic, joyous, and also has a lot of pain and dark sounds to it. I try to capture the full spectrum of the music."
Is there a growing flamenco community here in Ithaca? Culpepper says, "You're looking at it. I'm trying to change that - open people's minds to it and get the music out there. This is a town that really appreciates world music of all kinds."
If you want to hear flamenco music, seek him out. He performs twice a month at the Smart Monkey Cafe. The next show is Friday, May 22, and then the first and third Fridays in June. Culpepper will also present one of the final shows at the ABC Café before it closes its doors in June. Culpepper will also perform Ithaca Festival weekend with a 10pm concert on Saturday, May 30.
For more information, visit www.andyculpepper.com. CDs are available through his site, Volume Records, and Ithaca Guitar Works.
Review of "Sol y Suelo" by Flamenco blogger Tim Brown:
Okay after a few listens I am ready to let you in on my opinions.
1st song : Sol Y suelo
A very nice modern style tarantas. Very reminiscent of Paco de lucia circa mid 80s. Played with much grace and style.
Clean playing and tremolos, dripping with emotion.
2nd song : November (tango)
Slow style tango, usually played fast for Juergas. This unique tempo gives the real feeling of the Sacromonte caves
where the gypsies live. Nice rasgeados, nice accents, great golpes. Andalucia would be proud.
3rd song : La voz de mi guitarra (solea)
Opening with the solitude which characterizes the thematic style of solea. Moves into furthur introspection, separation
and societal despair. Nice chordal chromatic progression at the end summarizes the fall into hope and loss. Ole'
4th song : Cascadilla (alegrias)
A cheerful rendition of gypsy verve and exploration. Nice minor key passage with purposeful playing. Not at all contrived
as with so many guitar artists. Returns to major key with accelerando with ease. Great triplet rasgueo in this section.
Modern chords at the coda impart a freshness to this ancient form. Nice.
5th song : Sentimentos (tarantas)
A very traditional tarantas. The song of the miners. Gypsies were enslaved of sometimes employed to work in the mines far
from their friends and families. This form is key to understanding the complexity of gypsy life. Andy conveys every desire
and hope, the utter despair of not only being of a race exploited but of those forced from their homeland. Great playing.
6th song : Rusted truck (bulerias)
I love bulerias I must say, my lifeblood comes from bulerias. The complex rhythms found in this style are hauntng. It is a
compound time meter of essentially two measures within a measure repeating throughout the song. Each measure is a different
time meter, kind of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time then switching to brushing your teeth
and combing your hair. Try it ! The playing here is lively and fresh. Perfect compas like riding in the back of the car on
a long trip when you were a kid watching the telephone poles go by at 55 mph. Beginning has a very juerga feel. Makes you
think Diego del gastor is sipping a bit of "tinto" somewhere close by. Good alzapua in mid section. Nice fadeout with
modern simultaneous alternating thumb and picado patterns. Sabes tocar la bulerias.
7th song : Garcia lorca (sequirias)
For those unacquainted, Federico Garcia Lorca was the father of flamenco poetry. No song could be played without thinking
whether or not he would approve of the intent behind the paying or singing. Similar to the bulerias in rhythm, actually it
is a reverse image. It takes many years to achieve mastery of this style. Golpes tap out the meter and rasgueos accent the
feeling. After the intro very nice alzapuas with clean execution yet able to convey the urgency of this style. Played
somewhat in the style of manolo sanlucar back in the 60s. Most current players bling this style up with garish and useless
frills. Andy is to the point and never strays from the task at hand. Bravo.
8th song : Philadelphia (solea)
This begins with a very modern harmonic use of chromatic octaves. Then there is a more traditional mid section with great
picado and rasgueos. More clean triplet rasqueos in the end. Sweet.
9th song : Two lakes (bulerias)
This starts in solea form then transmutes to the faster bulerias. Killer harmonic octave glissandos take us to a modern
presentation of my fav song form. Poignant pulgar work late mid section before more octave chords. Slight accelerando at
the coda. Played out with modern 7th chordal bridging.
Final track : Painting (granadinas)
Next to bulerias my favorite form is the granadinas. Another song of the miners. Taking deep into the depths of the
mines Andy digs a shaft of graceful hammer-ons and pull-offs. Shimmering notes like gravel that threaten workers fall unto
bottomless pits of human emotion. Really nice tremolo mid section ending with clean picados. We are taken up the mountains
of the Sacromonte in search of new beginnings.
Overall this is a great album worthy of any aficionados collection or even those who are unfamiliar with flamenco will love
it. The recording is very good, the tone of guitar speaks of spain. I highly recommend this CD.
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