Chris Carnes Obituary
Christopher Douglas Carnes was born on September 28, 1942 and died on Tuesday July 25, 2000. Chris, aka Cristobal Dos Santos was well known throughout the Bay Area and around the world as one of the foremost American guitarists of the pueblo style of gypsy flamenco. In the 1950s, Chris was a familiar figure in Flamenco circles in Los Angeles. After traveling to Mexico City in 1960, he met legendary gypsy flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya. His first job was playing for a flamenco ballet company featuring some of the Amaya family members. Subsequently Chris traveled to Spain to search out the true gypsy flamenco.. His first teachers there were Perico el del Lunar and Juan Maya “El Marote”. Chris finally met his renowned master teacher Diego Del Gastor in the small pueblo of Moron De La Frontera. Chris was regarded as an adopted son by Diego, and was absorbed into Diego’s bohemian flamenco lifestyle throughout the 60s and early 70s. It was there in Moron that Chris honed his skills with artists such as Joselero, La Fernanda, and Anzonini.
Chris also studied the Lebrija style of gypsy guitar under Pedro Pena. He was influenced by his artist friends Pedro Bacan and Miguel Funi of Lebrija. Chris was a noted accompanist of cante flamenco and was included in many weddings, fiestas and fairs in Lebrija, Moron, and in and around the “Flamenco triangle” in Andalucia, Spain. Chris was employed at the La Cuadra, an after hours gypsy nightclub in Sevilla.
There he played with artists such as Tia Juana La Pipa, La Chicharona de Jerez, Antonio Mairena, Miguel Funi, El Chocolate, El Farruco, El Terremoto, Carmen Montoya, and many more. In 1976 he recorded a hit single “Pasaje del Agua” by Loli y Manuel playing the oud, a Middle Eastern fretless stringed instrument.
In 1989 Chris hosted The Gypsy Flamenco Hour on public radio station KZYX FM in Mendocino County, California. The program was nominated for the National Public Radio Golden Reel Award. In 1990 the Spanish government officially invited Chris to play in the Bienal of Sevilla dedicated to the guitar and specifically devoted to the memory of his teacher Diego del Gastor. Chris also played on a 90 minute documentary for French national radio.
Chris is survived by his daughter, Carmen Carnes of Fairfax, CA. Carmen will continue the artistic tradition by pursuing her masters degree in dance in the World Arts and Cultures Department at UCLA. Chris is also survived by his parents Mr. And Mrs. J. Carnes of San Luis Obispo, CA, Kent and Kathleen Carnes of Maple Creek, CA, and Claudia and Louis Barnes of San Luis Obispo, CA.
Chris is a beloved figure in music circles in the Bay Area and beyond, and taught many students about flamenco. He was a pioneer in world music through his inspired sharing of music with his many friends and acquaintances. Chris was a gentle, kind and compassionate person who touched the hearts of many. His ashes will be scattered in the garden of Saint Stephen’s Church in San Luis Obispo. A memorial/homenaje for Chris is planned for August in the Bay Area.
Written by Carmen Carnes, July 28, 2000
Chris Carnes Formula for Survival When Facing Death
Transcribed from an audio tape
by Marianna Baskin Gabriel Mejia
In 1994 Chris Carnes, while waiting, seemingly near death, for another heart operation, asked me to write a book with him. The subject of the book was to be how to stay alive when dealing with potentially fatal physical conditions, something that Chris did not once, but many times, defying the death his doctors had warned was imminent. In March 1994 I taped Chris who was to describe his secret. This is the transcription of a taped conversation at the home of Bobby Markowitz on March 9, 1994, with Darioush Sami present. Chris was trying to explain how one can fully recover or get through a catastrophic illness that isn’t necessarily life threatening or fatal, he said, but it helps to have a positive attitude and this is how you do it. The project was not completed during Chris life time. I wondered if these paragraphs were really enough from which to create a book. I saw Chris survive many more near deaths and a part of me forgot that he was mortal and I think I expected that he would continue to survive. But during Chris last crisis he became depressed and isolated and I think that he was unable to follow the advice in the following paragraphs, unable to visualize the connections to the future. You might say that Chris amazingly strong will to live was buried by the depression. The last time I spoke with him, on the telephone, I could feel how low his energy had fallen. His will to live seemed lost in his depression, but I didnt realize that this time he would not be able to get it back. After many long fights with death, Chris Carnes died on Tuesday July 25, 2000.
So here, in the paragraphs that follow, is Chris formula for staying alive, the formula that for so many years kept him here on earth. And, here I am beginning to fulfill the promise I made to him in March of 1994.
Before the operation you are facing or the crisis you are facing, if you have time, what you do is start making plans for the future, for what you envision that you would like your life to be like in the future, and not a selfish wish, but a wish for you and all humanity, not just a selfish idea. So, you just start making plans and arrangements for the future of what you may be doing or where you may be going. Anything you can do and any work you want to start now which will kind of—it’s like strings of energy that you tie now to the present and you also tie them to some place in the future—at some future time after the crisis will be over.
These strings or connections with the future from the present, where you are now, act like a bridge over the unknown period of time that you will be facing when you could be facing death or at least near death or some kind of crisis in your life. So, it’s a matter of making a lot of plans and not everyone around you will understand what you are doing, like my family did not understand why I have been so hyper lately, and so excited about making plans. All I do is make plans and think about what I am going to do soon in the future. But I am very convinced that this works because I have done this all my life to a more or lesser degree. But this time I have done it with more consciousness and more true awareness of what I am doing and why to the point where it has become like a simple thing that at least at this moment in my life I seem to have great clarity, and it seems to be so clear. This is something you might not even want to talk about or there is no need to talk about it. The reason I am talking about it is so I can just write it down now when it is very clear in my mind and then with Marianne Gabriel, she has promised to work with me on this project to develop some kind of a self help book that she and I will write, but she is going to get the publishing taken care of and all of the logistics. I’ll just give her this idea and then go on with my other plans and of course I’ll give her any background or fill in any gaps to make this actually a book. It could be a very short book like a pamphlet that wouldn’t cost people much because the idea is not to make money with this. It is just to maybe help people that maybe don’t know this formula for living through hard times in their lives. They may just do it blindly or unconsciously, but at this point I don’t think I’m doing it very unconsciously. I think I am doing it consciously, too.
So that’s it. When you are sick and you are facing a crisis, plan for the future as if you were going to get through it, and you are absolutely positive you are going to get through it, and you have friends supporting you and praying for you, and pretty soon you just remove any kind of doubt in yourself and in others that you won’t survive and succeed, and it is this assurance and feeling of peace and acceptance that at least theoretically now in my mind will carry you through.
