2024-01-06 21:23:00
His store dedicated to flamenco guitar opened its doors at the dawn of the end-of-year holidays at 131 rue de la Libération. Meeting a lover of music and the instrument.
It is defined as “a real dunce”. But if the wood of the school benches did not succeed in putting Antonio Garcia in tune, there were others which aroused in him an interest which continued to increase in scale. The ones guitars are made of.
Rosewood, cedar, spruce: the main species found in the stringed instrument. This is the one that Antonio Garcia decided to sell in the store he opened in mid-December in the heart of Lunel.
His first sales in a garage in Baillargues
We would almost dare to say that he took it like a “handle” as there are so many to discover in this Ali Baba’s cave with forty smells escaping from the flamenco guitars – the specialty of the place – hung on the displays by La Guitarreria Antonio de la Paca.
From the scratching beginner to the arpeggio super-pro, there’s something for everyone. It must be said that Tonio has it in his blood. “I was born in Spain, in Lorca, 64 years agosays the new Lunel merchant. In our country, there is a guitar in every house. It’s an essential.”
However, it was in Montpellier, where his parents emigrated when he was just 8 years old, that Antonio Garcia perfected his art of tremolos, slides and bars. “At school, I had a lot of gypsy friendsremembers the child who arrived from “La ciudad del sol”. We started playing together following school. It was our recreation.” He probably doesn’t know it yet but his love for music will grow just as much as his love for the guitar as an object.
In the American surplus and at Nicollin
But you have to live and eat well. Turning your passion into a profession is still several notes away from your ambitions and dreams. Antonio Garcia thus made a career, from the age of 16, first in the American surplus trade then at Nicollin.
2012 will be the year of change. Once his day as a recycling center guard is over, the “Loulou” employee devotes himself to the musical instrument. In agreement with himself, Antonio Garcia began the trade of flamenco guitars with the status of self-entrepreneur.
“I had divided the garage of my house in Baillargues in two to make a sort of store”, relates the boss of La Guitarreria. The same “store” where Frank Janik, the current director of the culture, arts and entertainment department of Lunel town hall, buys a guitar as a flamenco enthusiast that he is.
Everyone does as they please
This is the signature of the luthier: each guitar headstock is shaped and sculpted according to the inspiration of its creator. This trademark then followed him throughout his life.
Like the famous “Media luna”, born in the 1950s in the workshops of the famous Conde Hermanos (Conde brothers). A “detail” which earned them an international reputation, notably thanks to the incomparable Paco de Lucía who only played on this type of guitar model.
Handmade jewels, some of which found refuge in Antonio Garcia’s La Guitarreria alongside multiple concert tickets from the undisputed Spanish master of this musical style. “Paco de Lucía is my mentor, “the” reference of the flamenco guitarist. He was, and will forever remain, the best”assures, glitter and memories in your eyes, Antonio Garcia.
“It’s all his faultsays, smiling, Antonio Garcia. If I’m here, I owe it to him. I had to sell my house in Baillargues and, with it, my small business. Frank Janik then told me: “Why don’t you come and settle in Lunel?”. To be honest, I wasn’t very keen, admits the seller and guitar player. I had experienced the city’s heyday, particularly during parties and at the counter of the L’Embarcadère bar. I also experienced its decline. But when I saw the place, I fell in love with it.”
Belonging to the municipality, the commercial unit, located at 131 rue de la Libération, benefits from the city’s metamorphosis program and the work and makeover that goes with it.
Ukuleles, cajons, accessories too…
Since Tuesday, December 19, its vaults have been welcoming customers and housing around sixty flamenco guitars chosen with love and precision by Antonio Garcia. La Guitarreria also offers the sale of cajons, ukuleles and all the accessories necessary for the stringed instrument, which can also be found in children’s sizes.
A harmony without the slightest drawback for this mystical instrument which made Chopin, although a virtuoso pianist, say: “Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, except perhaps two. » If it’s Frédéric who says it…
La Guitarreria Antonio de la Paca, 131 rue de la Libération in Lunel. Such. 06 17 10 16 78 and antoniodelapaca.com
1704577751
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