The Conde Hermanos Flamenco FC28!
The model FC28 is the fruit of an historic collaboration between Paco de Lucía and Mariano and Faustino Conde. Paco de Lucía, a close friend of the Conde brothers, went to their workshop in the 70´s looking for a guitar suited for great concert halls but without losing that unique flamenco character. The result was this first flamenco concert guitar built using the best selected German spruce for the top, Madagascar rosewood for back and sides, ebony for the fretboard, and cedar for the neck. This sublime guitar marries all the tradition, innovation and artisanship developed in the Conde Hermanos workshop since 1915.
“My comfort with my guitar is everything to me as a flamenco artist in this case; and this immense ‘everything’ is at the same time beauty, balance, harmony and strength.”
Francisco Sanchez Gomez, better known as Paco de Lucía is considered the greatest flamenco guitarist of all time.
Francisco Sanchez Gomez, better known as Paco de Lucía is considered the greatest flamenco guitarist of all time. He was born in 1947 in a Gitano (Roma) neighborhood of Algeciras, a city in southern Spain’s Cadiz province. Paco passed away in 2014 while on holiday with his family in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The city of Algeciras declared two days of official mourning. The youngest of five brothers, they grew up in a poor environment. "Paco" is a familiar nickname for Francisco, while "de Lucía" refers to his mother, Lucía Gomes Gonçalves. He adopted this stage name as a tribute to her.
His father, Antonio, studied guitar under Manuel Fernández, also known as Titi de Marchena or simply El Titi, a guitarist from Algeciras who was a cousin of Melchor de Marchena. Antonio introduced Paco to the guitar at a young age and was incredibly strict with his training. Starting at the age of five, Paco was made to practice up to 12 hours a day, every day, to prepare him for a career as a professional musician. At one point, Antonio even withdrew him from school to focus entirely on his guitar studies. In a 2012 interview, Paco reflected, “I learned the guitar like a child learns to speak.”
Alongside Enrique Morente and Camarón de la Isla, de Lucía was one of the pioneers in pushing the boundaries of traditional flamenco, contributing to the creation of what is now known as nuevo flamenco. As a composer, he was also the first Spanish artist to consistently integrate jazz with Andalusian music.
One of his most influential collaborations was with the great Camarón de la Isla, with whom Paco toured and created albums from the late 1960s to 1977. Friends from a relatively young age, they are both considered gods in the flamenco world, and are credited with revolutionizing the art form into what it is today.
Paco de Lucía’s 1972 release, El duende flamenco de Paco de Lucía, marked a pivotal moment in the flamenco world. Through the 1970s, he continued to push boundaries, incorporating jazz influences into an increasingly innovative flamenco style. His subsequent album, Fuente y caudal, earned wide acclaim, especially for the track Entre dos aguas, now one of his most famous compositions, along with Solera and Cepa Andaluza. Entre dos aguas, a rumba with bongos and electric bass, translates to "Between two waters," referencing his hometown of Algeciras, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. Biographer Pohren describes Cepa Andaluza as a “phenomenal bulerías, driven by rhythmic clapping, shouts of encouragement, and lively jaleo, inspiring listeners to dance.” The album also includes tracks named after Andalusian landmarks, a motif de Lucía continued in later works.
Paco continued to perform widely across the United States and Europe, boosting his popularity beyond Spain and the European flamenco community. During this time, he connected with numerous jazz, Latin, and other musicians who influenced his development as a "Nuevo flamenco" artist. His growing interest in jazz fusion and rock became evident, and in 1977 he performed with Carlos Santana at the Plaza de Toros de las Arenas bullring in Barcelona.
In 1979, Paco de Lucía joined forces with John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell to form The Guitar Trio. Together, they toured Europe and released a performance video recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall titled Meeting of the Spirits. Collaborating with musicians like McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Coryell, and Chick Corea was undoubtedly an “exciting and stimulating” experience for de Lucía, given their exceptional technical skills and improvisational abilities. However, some critics expressed concerns that these collaborations might lead him to lose his musical identity. Di Meola reassured critics, emphasizing that “Paco is not leaving flamenco, but expanding it.” De Lucía addressed these concerns in an interview in the late 1990s, stating, “I have never lost the roots in my music, because I would lose myself. What I have tried to do is have a hand holding onto tradition and the other scratching, digging in other places, trying to find new things I can bring into flamenco.”
Paco de Lucía transformed the traditional role of flamenco guitar, evolving it from mere accompaniment to a vehicle for deeply personal melodic expression and modern instrumentation.
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