Andrés Segovia
Paco de Lucia
It is perhaps not a fair competition, because Segovia was a masterful - a truly great - musician, but he purposefully distanced himself from the spirit of flamenco - one of his guiding principles and aims in life was to 'extract the guitar from the noisy and disreputable folkloric amusements' into the philharmonic sphere.
Paco de Lucia has remained true to the folkloric passion, or 'duende', of flamenco, while successfully branching out into a range of different styles.
They are two of the greatest guitarists of recent times, perhaps of all time, nonetheless.
