Guitar-maker Yunah Park and Guitar Professor Javier Somoza visited the guitar exhibition in Granada today. I have always enjoyed their company, be it in Linares or in Madrid at guitar-related events. We all agree that it is about time we had a national guitar museum although we might not all agree on which city it should be in. I was able to introduce them to one of my favorite dishes at La Mimbre: avacado and prawn omelette!

The programme of the Third International Festival of the Guitar in Granada was officially presented yesterday at the Peña La Plateria as a collaboration between the Granada Town Council, the European Guitar Foundation and the California State University. The lineup looks great and along with some great performers there are a few exciting new aspects. The guitar-making contest will include prizes for the best flamenco as well as for the best classical; two competitions in one. The other piece of news is that there will be two courses held for guitar-makers to choose between: René Baarslag and Manuel Cáceres. More information here. A lot of people will be very excited to see Mabel Milán, Pablo Milanés, Margarita Escarpa and the Romero Quartet. I am personally thrilled to see Javier Riba on the roster this year. He will be playing on July 18 at the historic house of Manuel de Falla. See the full programme here.

Yesterday (March 13) was the first day of the the exhibition of early guitars “Towards a Guitar Museum” in Granada. It will run until April 14 of this year. This show comes out of a desire to establish a permanent museum of the guitar in Granada (or anywhere else in Spain for that matter). All we really need is a permanent space to house these pieces. The inaugural event included an official recognition of the impact made by the original association Escuela Granadina formed in 1987. The members at that time were:

René Baarslag
Juan Miguel Carmona Trapero
Francisco Manuel Díaz Sánchez
Jonathan Hinves
Juan López Aguilarte
José López Bellido
Manuel López Bellido
Antonio Marín Montero
José Marín Plazuelo
Rafael Moreno Rodríguez
Germán Pérez Barranco
Antonio Raya Pardo
Paco Santiago Marín

José Pérez Mingorance D.E.P.
Bernd Martin D.E.P.
Manuel Fernández Fernández D.E.P.
Antonio Durán Zurita D.E.P.
Eduardo Ferrer Castillo D.E.P.

At that time they organized exhibitions, appeared in specialized magazines and books and took the Granada guitar to countries all over the world. The reputation and the quality of the Granada guitar today is a direct result of the individual efforts and the collective work of these makers. Too often we wait until death takes someone before celebrating his or her achievements. For this reason the town council of Granada and the Asociación de Guitarreros de Granada wanted to pay homage to these makers while they are still working in their workshops.

This is a guitar that I acquired recently on a trade and I am wondering what to do with it. I could try to sell it now to someone interested in Catalonian guitar history or I could restore it and then try to sell it. I really don’t have any interest in collecting guitars although I am grateful that some people do it. Collectors have kept alive guitar history for those of us who are interested in it today. The guitar does need restoration but it has been played in this state.

José Serratosa Blanch was active in Barcelona in the late 19th early 20th centuries and you can read a bit about him on these two pages. Zavaleta’s and Miguel Mateo.  According to the address on the label this guitar was made before 1906.