FLAMENCO GUITAR MUSIC BY ERIC KAMEN

Review
Winner of the Best Instrumental CD of the Year 2005 Award
author: MusesMuse.com
Eric's blend of Flamenco guitar, bass, piano, and Indian sitar, with commercial, contemporary grooves is almost scientific, and nothing short of phenomenal. This project will appeal to hardcore hip-hop fans, jazz enthusiasts, and world music lovers alike...

author: Gian Fiero
What happens when you blend contemporary r&b and hip hop beats with some very serious World music, which features Flamenco guitar, other world stringed instruments and a touch of acoustic piano? You get a flavorful project that's musically captivating. Eric Kamen was born and raised in New York City, and is also a successful r&b/hip-hop producer. He programmed the beats and plays every instrument on this project including Flamenco guitar, bass, piano, Indian sitar, as well as Greek and Turkish bouzouki. The blend of these instruments with commercial, contemporary grooves is almost scientific, and nothing short of phenomenal. The most commercial track, "Mykonos At Midnight,"emanates sensuality on a bed of percolating beats and melodic guitar playing. It's infectious and would surely light up radio switch boards with requests. This project needs to be consumed in it's entirety because the tracks blend together harmoniously, and sweetly, like chocolate, cararmel, and nuts - all of which are tasty on their own but when blended, are more delectable.

About flamenco guitar
Flamenco guitar is a type of guitar, built for the purpose of playing Flamenco music. The traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish cypress and spruce, and is lighter in weight and a bit smaller than a classical guitar, to give the sound a "brighter" and percussive quality. Volume has traditionally been very important in flamenco construction, as a guitarist needed to be heard over the sound of the dancers' nailed shoes. The flamenco guitar, in contrast to the classical, is also equipped with a tap plate, called a golpeador. This is often made of transparent plastic, similar to a pick guard, and protects the body of the guitar from the rhythmic finger taps, called golpes. Originally, flamenco guitars were made with wooden tuning pegs similar to a violin. Some guitarists still prefer these pegs to the classical style tuning gears. It's widely accepted that more weight in the headstock can improve sustain, unsurprisingly, less weight can result in quicker attack; a desirable quality in a flamenco guitar. This could explain why many flamenco players still cling to the traditional pegs. The action or the height of the strings above the fingerboard is generally lower (<3mm at the 12th fret) than that of a classical guitar. This aids faster playing, especially during fast picado passages, but can lead to some fret buzz-also a frequent feature of the traditional 'flamenco' sound. In short, flamenco guitars are better suited for flamenco music than classical guitars. Some modern flamenco guitars (flamenca negra), however, use similar materials to high-end classical guitars. These guitars hope to capture some of the sustain achieved by concert calibre classical guitars while retaining the volume and attack synonymous with flamenco.

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