Pepe Habichuela-Yerbaguena, Volume 1

Publisher: Mel Bay

At last, the long-awaited transcription of the historic CD Yerbagüena by Pepe Habichuela has been released as an addition to maestro Enrique Vargas' "Great Flamenco Guitars of Today Library". This two-volume edition, as all others within this Library, carries a hand-written exclusive authorization by the author of the music.

Yerbagüena is considered historic for the following reasons: one, it is the first album that fuses Gypsy flamenco with the music of India, the homeland of the Romá (Gypsies). The ease with which Habichuela's guitar blends with the colorful Indian melodies of the Bollywood Strings, full of microtones and oriental embellishments is truly astonishing. Two, this work is a fruit of the combined effort of four different members of this outstanding flamenco fam-ily, the Carmona: maestro Pepe Habichuela; his son Josemi, himself a great guitarist, composer, arranger and producer; Juan Carmona, guitar virtuoso and also a great com-poser; and, last but not least, Antonio Carmona, an extraordinary percussionist.

The music on Yerbagüena exudes the joy of living, pure and sincere as the ancestral wisdom of the Gypsy, who, through the thousands of years and miles preserved their soul and their art.

The transcription of "Yerbagüena" was complicated by the abundance of Indian instruments, two and sometimes three guitar tracks, singing, etc.. Surprisingly, maestro Vargas not only transcribed all the guitar tracks, but also arranged the most important parts played by the Bollywood Strings, the oud and the mandola for the second guitar. As a result, this work offers flamenco material for solo guitar as well as duos and trios. No need to say, flamenco pieces for more that one guitar have been virtually non-existent on the chart market. It should be added that all the tunes from Yerbagüena are perfectly playable on a solo guitar.

As in all of his books, Enrique Vargas offers detailed explanations on the forms included on Yerbagüena, foot marking, tonalities, the basics of the harmonic and melodic language of each form as well as the analysis of the most difficult compás, falsetas and technical as-pects of the artist's style. This turns each book into a mini-manuel of flamenco in general and the personal style of each guitarist in particular