Otto Vowinkel

Guitar maker Amsterdam

flamenco

Almudena Rubio (voice) and Isabelle Laudenbach (guitar)

These are Almudena Rubio (voice) and Isabelle Laudenbach (guitar) during their concert at the Embassy of Spain in Den Haag (The Netherlands).

Singer and art historian Almudena Rubio works at the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam, researching the Cajas de Amsterdam, photo archives from two Jewish immigrant photographers, Margaret Michaelis and Kati Horna, who put their camera at the service of the social revolution during the Spanish Civil War.

Together with Isabelle Laudenbach, a French flamenco guitarist, living in Barcelona, Almudena Rubio performs on a regular base.

Rubio started singing at a later age and much of her repertoire is related to her research: music by singer-songwriter Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio, Latin American folklore, songs by Chavela Vargas and music-set poetry by Rosalía de Castro, García Lorca and Agustin Garcia Calvo.

The hauntingly beautiful and passionate voice of Madrid singer Almudena Rubio immediately transports you back to the 1920s and 1930s, to the zarzuelas of Madrid, the milongas of Buenos Aires and the agit-prop cabarets of pre-war Berlin and France.
Stuart Christie

Every year , with the arrival of Sint Nicholas in the Netherlands , the Spanish Embassy organizes a concert at the Paleiskerk in The Hague. Due to Covid-19, this years concert took place at the Embassy itself. The entire concert, including the ambassador’s introduction, can be seen on YouTube.

links: Almudena Rubio | Isabella Laudenbach | IISH | Spaanse Ambassade den Haag | Sinterklaas explained

Isabella Laudenbach plays a concert model flamenco guitar

Eric Vaarzon Morel

This is Eric Vaarzon Morel, a great flamenco guitarist. He writes music, opera’s even, teaches at the conservatory of Amsterdam and always has a busy schedule with concerts and performances. Our friendship goes way back and last week he dropped by to demonstrate my 2A flamenco model. His rasgueado’s are so fast, the camera could hardly record them.

questions

Jerry Albrecht bought a 2A flamenco guitar and asked me if I could elaborate a little on the differences between a classical and a flamenco guitar. I guess this might be interesting for other guitarists as well.

Traditionally a flamenco guitar has cypress back and sides, a lower action than its classical counterpart and a slightly different neck angle. Also the top is a little thinner than the one of a classical guitar. To protect the top from damage of the golpes, flamenco guitars have tap plates – the so called golpeadores. Traditionally wooden pegs were used for tuning but nowadays more and more people use tuning machines because this is easier tuning. Flamenco guitars with rosewood back and sides are called ‘flamenca negra’.

The 2A guitars are made in the Picado workshop. The guitars are made by hand after my design. They are made in small series, and varnished in stead of french polished. The guitar which can be heard and seen on the youtube video is a 2A flamenco guitar.