JUAN DIEGO'S "LUMINARIA" HAS WON THE SPANISH NATIONAL CRITICS' AWARD FOR 2003."LUMINARIA" HAS ALSO BEEN VOTED ONE OF THE TEN BEST CDS OF THE YEAR BY FLAMENCO-WORLD.
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The flamenco guitar of Juan Diego de Jerez is a one of the most personal and rejuvenating guitars one can hear in Jerez - the famous land of flamenco "soniquete" and the legendary singer, TÃo Jose de Paula, among many others. Juan Diego plays a measured, elegant guitar. Music that´s inteligent, and different. Grounded solidly in the harmonic calmness- far form the competitive vertigo or other fashionable gutarists´ frantic, showoff palying.
Some special friends offered delicious refreshment in the production, aptly named "Luminaria": There are also performances here by Diego Carrasco, Tomasito, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent, Bola and Dr. Keli , Musiquita, Cepillo, Madriles... and ofcourse Juan Diego´s muse, Remedios Amaya, plus her daughter Samara. All these are his professional and personal friends, all of whom demand the highest quality in the music they make- as this CD makes clear. "Luminaria" bring us elegance and difference. Ir opens up a space for traquility, for a quiet mood, bur also offers the inmortal echo of Flamenco´s deepness, "la jondura", which the Seguiriya of Luis Moneo calls forth in this disc.
WHAT THE SPANISH CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT "LUMINARIA""JUAN DIEGO: A Beautiful "Luminaria" in Such Darkness"I've known Juan Diego's guitar music for years: His technique and his sensitivity, his humility and his greatness, his dedication to his roots - Jerez is very Jerez - and his musical evolution toward paths less followed. Such paths let him express the "soniquete" of the land which injected it into his artistic blood - but also allow him to embark on his own track, far away from the coarseness, bad taste, and phony showiness, salted with tired and interminable staccatos which we're now accustomed to from the self-styled group of flamenco guitar "stars" - most of whom don't even know how to play properly.
Juan Diego is entirely another thing: He knows his art: His performances with such figures as Remedios Amaya, Jose Merce, Antonio "El Pipa," Gerardo Nuñez, JoaquÃn Cortes, Marina Heredia, Carmen Linares, Antonio Canales, Miguel Poveda, et alia, explains how he can manage such fluency in both facets of flamenco guitar: That of accompanying singers and that of performing as a concert guitarist. Juan Diego is a pro and an artist by vocation. And now he presents "Luminaria," his first solo recording - albeit accompanied by musicians of such prestige and quality as Jorge Pardo, Carlos Benavent and Cepillo, and the voices of Diego Carrasco, Luis Moneo - with his stunning Siguiriya - plus Remedios Amaya. Juan Diego moves us without disturbing us, transporting us to a world of flamenco sounds which makes us think we're in the paradise of the elect - for the "duende" that lies in the perfumed woods of his guitar. Listen to this CD and you'll see that I'm not wrong about this.
Paco VargasMálaga"JUAN DIEGO - Elegance and Difference"The flamenco guitar of the young but already distinguished Juan Diego de Jerez is one of the most personal and rejuvenating sounds that echo through Spain. Juan Diego plays with a measured, intelligent elegance - a delightfully different sound - pure flamenco but jazz, too.
Grounded solidly in the essential rhythms of flamenco, his masterful playing seeks out an harmonic calmness - far from the competitive vertigo of other fashionable guitarists' frantic, showoff playing.
Juan Diego, born in 1969, curently accompanies such top flamenco singers as Remedios Amaya, Jose Merce and MoraÃto, and Miguel Poveda, among others. He's already at the top tier of flamenco guitarists. He has also played for the likes of JoaquÃn Cortes, Lola Greco, El Pipa, Antonio Canales, El Grilo, Juana Amaya, Merche Esmeralda, Gerardo Núñez, Jose Luis Monton, Carmen Linares, Sorderita, Duquende, Marina Heredia, Tomasito, J
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