Perico el del Lunar
Who is Perico el del Lunar?
Pedro del Valle Pichardo, “Perico el del Lunar”, was born on 15 May 1894 in Jerez de la Frontera. Although he began his career in his home city and is placed within the orbit of Javier Molina’s Jerez school, he developed from a young age a highly personal style, far removed from customary formulas, one that over time would spawn little following beyond his own family.
In 1920 he moved to Madrid, the city where he would build the rest of his career and become a reference point in flamenco accompaniment for more than four decades.
Career
He was lead guitarist at the colmao Villa Rosa, where his influence went beyond the purely musical, acting almost as a kind of artistic director for the venue. From 1954 until his death he was lead guitarist at the tablao Zambra. Throughout his career he was the regular accompanist of Antonio Chacón, one of the most influential singers in flamenco history, with whom he recorded in 1928; he also played for Juan Varea, Antonio el Chaqueta, Rafael Romero, Pericón and many other great twentieth-century singers.
His most far-reaching contribution to flamenco history came in 1954, when he directed Hispavox’s first Antología del Cante Flamenco, considered a landmark work in the recovery and documentation of deep flamenco song; years later he would also direct a follow-up to this anthology recorded in Mexico.
Style and discography
He is remembered for an original and sensitive style of playing, always subordinated to the singer and sustained by a deep knowledge of the cante, rather than for personal display on the part of the guitarist. That way of understanding accompaniment, together with his work as director of the Hispavox anthologies, made him a key figure in preserving the flamenco repertoire of the first half of the twentieth century.
Legacy
He died on 17 March 1964 in Madrid. His son, Pedro del Valle Castro, born in Madrid in 1940, continued the family’s guitar tradition, though the highly particular style of Perico el del Lunar remained a singular case within the Jerez school, more admired than imitated.