January 7, 2000

To whom it may concern:

I lived and studied guitar in the gypsy flamenco culture of Moron de la Frontera in southern Spain in the early 70s. It was a way of life that revolved around spontaneous singing and dancing in bars and people's homes, in baptisms and weddings, and all-nite fiestas that could carry on for days. Since the subsequent modernization of Spain the way of life that was flamenco has been steadily eroding from the onslaught of pop culture. Some of the flamenco I witnessed was recorded on audio tape by myself and others; almost none was recorded on film or video tape. When I saw the preliminary version of Tao Ruspoli’s Flamenco - A Personal Journal, I realized how rare it was to see such a video and, therefore, how important it was as a document preserving this wonderful music.

I presently have a web site - www.gypsyflamenco.com - where I pay tribute to the musical tradition of Moron de la Frontera and also sell a guitar tablature book I wrote and audio tapes that were recorded there. I have visitors to my site from all over the world and have received numerous requests for Tao's video by email and also by telephone. I have asked Tao that once he has releases signed by the artists to permit me to make this video tape for sale as I am confident it will sell well.

Evan Harrar