Don’t mean to up-stage the Guitar Center boys, however,
I was searching YouTube for Andres Segovia when I discovered this brilliant, passionate guitarist. She hails from Sardinia, Italy, is young and beautiful, and plays with an impeccable technique. I thought – with one exception being Charo – that one had to be an old-man like Segovia to play like this. I guess Segovia was once young also. Seems like I’ll always know him as that classy, suit-wearing old-man who was – if not still is – the greatest classical guitarist in the history of the world.
Young ladies (or young-men) like this experience a great euphoria. Their music will give them great comfort throughout their lives. Classical guitar performance is not unlike transcendental meditation. If you click the Segovia video you’ll see Andres Segovia (around 4:26) in position as a perfect Buddha. That is to say that he looks like a Buddha figure in meditation. What a lovely man he was.
As I promised, here’s that video clip of Charo and her guitar at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas – August, 2009. The virtuoso performance took place in the Crazy Girls showroom. The clip is 46 seconds long.
María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza is also known as Charo.
I felt priviliged to be able to witness this performance by one of the finest Flamenco guitarists in the world.
The great Andres Segovia gave Charo master-classes when she was in her teens. The classes certainly paid off, or so it would seem.
Remember “The Cuchi Cuchi Girl” on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (45+ appearances.) María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza is also known as Charo.
Charo’s August 5th performance at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas was executed in two parts. In the first half you saw the Charo you know: the comedian, the singer, and all-around show-woman. She was brilliant, funny and spectacular. She sparkled in a red-sequined outfit, singing tunes from her CD’s, such as: “I Will Survive,” and cracking jokes about accents as well as other aspects of the human condition.
Without a doubt, the most humorous moment came when she spoke of being so poor in her youth that she didn’t have enough to eat – then after achieving success she couldn’t eat because of diets and weight watching – after saying this, she repeatedly “mouthed” the F bomb.
Accompanied by a troup of Flamenco dancers and a high-power-group of musicians, the first half of the show was fast paced, hard-hitting and well rehearsed. The show’s lighting was an artful display of color and dream imagery. Now I’ll tell you about the positive stuff.
Photo credit [copyright 2009-LasVegasBuffetClub]
The second half of the show was about guitar – Flamenco guitar. Charo displayed the mastery that earned her ‘Guitar magazine”s Readers Poll as Best Flamenco Guitarist two years in a row. Her strokes were robust, true and firm; the *”shotgun-tremelo” was flawless. (My pretention here is due to studying a-bit-of classical guitar.)
Her fingers (both hands) were moving like she was a super-human being. The little-finger, of her left hand, was – relaxed – in the precise, classical position. This is something one can only achieve after years of practice.
The “show stopper” for me was a moving rendition of Ravel’s Bolaro, of which you can hear a few bars on Charo’s website.
According to IMDb, when she was 14, María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza won a scholarship to study classical guitar with Andrés Segovia.
Brava Charo!
Keep tuned to this page, there will soon be a link to a video clip of Charo.
*So maybe I’m using a common term…
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