Carlos Montoya

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Carlos Montoya

Carlos Montoya (13 December 1903 – 3 March 1993) was a prominent Flamenco guitarist.

1 Early life and career
2 Playing style
3 Death
4 External links

[edit] Early life and career

He was born in Madrid, Spain, the nephew of Ramón Montoya, and started accompanying dancers and singers. At the age of 14, Montoya played in concert halls across the world.

In the 1920s and 1930s he performed extensively in Europe, North America, and Asia. The outbreak of World War II brought him to the United States where he toured with the dancer La Argentina. Settling in New York City, he began touring on his own, bringing his fiery style to concert halls, universities, and orchestras.

Montoya toured year round but always returned to his homeland, Spain, to spend the Christmas holidays with his family.

[edit] Playing style

Montoya's playing style was idiosyncratic. He once said, according to Brook Zern,

"I do not play the way I do to please the public, though it certainly does, on five continents so far, and no other flamenco guitarist will ever fill the Houston Astrodome as I have. No, I play the way I do because to me, that is exactly the way the flamenco guitar should sound. It seems strange to me that the unknowing public should agree, while the real flamenco aficionados clearly do not...but that's the case."

His style was not particularly appreciated by serious flamenco students, who considered it less brilliant than many others, including that of Montoya's uncle Ramón. Carlos's own favorite flamenco guitarist, it was reported by Zern, was the obscure Currito de la Geroma. That he was unpopular among aficionados owes largely to the fact that Montoya abandoned the compás which has evolved within flamenco over hundreds of years. Many of his works do not even keep perfect tempo, increasing and decreasing in speed almost whimsically. He was admired for the speed of his picados and undoubtably found popularity on the international stage as a result of this obviously impressive pace, but to an aficionado speed is nothing without compás, the trick being to play rapid, beautiful falsettas without straying outside the framework of the rhythm.