General opinion rates the greatest flamenco guitarist to perform as Agustín Castellón Campos, better known by his performing name, Sabicas. This consensus is difficult to refute even if you compare him to today's flamenco titans like Paco de Lucía and Paco Peña.

Strangely, Sabicas was not (and still isn't) well known to the American public. During his lifetime his contemporary, Carlos Montoya, is whom most Americans pictured as the quintessential flamenco guitarist. Certainly, Carlos's style was hard hitting, with rasgueados multos y rapidos, and he dazzled the American concertgoers as his playing fit in with the Norteamericano notion of how flamenco should sound. But popular as he was with Americans, among the flamenco players themselves and non-American afficionados, Carlos was not ranked among the greatest or innovative of players although his uncle, Ramon, certainly was.

Sabicas's playing was less flamboyant than that of Carlos and emphasized the individual notes and the melody. He seemed to have no interest in wowing his listeners with flashy technique but knew that would take care of itself if he just played the tune. So was Sabicas the best? Well, his recordings are found where ever you have flamenco music, and if he wasn't the best, he was pretty close.