Saturday morning I was invited to offer a lecture on the Granada school of guitar-making along with author Alberto Cuéllar.  The students of CSU Summer Arts programme are here in Granada studying with Pepe Romero, Margarita Escarpa, Eliot Fisk, Kai Narezo, Rafael Aguirre, Vicente Coves, and David Martínez and I though it was a good idea that they learn a bit about the Granada makers. They got a list of the makers, a rundown of the history and a look at some of the problems faced by guitar-makers here. These posts (round table, first foreigners) mention some of the subjects we covered. Alberto gave them a glimpse into the motivations and personalities of the people who make your guitars and shared some stories gleaned from the interviews he conducted for the book. The Diputación de Granada made a gift of the book to all of the students and the teachers of the course.

What a fantastic concert last night! Whatever instrument you play, the music should always come first. Rythm, melodia, dynamics and expresión. Technique should be only a road to those goals. This is the first time I have heard Margarita play live and myself and my friends absolutely loved her performance. The use of dynamics, the expressiveness of the interpretations, every thing was perfect. She is surely an excellent teacher as well as she walked us didactically through her programme and introduced us to some rather modern pieces but which she managed to make us like. She is doing masterclasses today for Summer Arts with the american students in the Corrala de Santiago and I am sure they will love her.

(Sold) A cliente has asked me to make a Torres model for him and in partial payment left this Lorca copy from 2003 with me. This guitar has some history because I was making it while María Isabel was photographing my work for this book. A large number of the photos are of this very guitar. After 14 years of professional use the guitar is in very good shape but would benefit from a touch-up of the varnish although it is not worn through or anywhere close to that. This is a copy of Antonio de Lorca from Málaga 1847.

Visitors to guitar workshops often call the builders artists whereas for the most part we call ourselves artisans or craftspeople. Here are some photos of the most artistic part of the guitar so you can make up your own minds. Many of these are my copies or interpretations of historic designs so perhaps not so creative. It is not easy to show a chronological progression here but the first two pictures do show my first attempts at rosette design and in the third you can see an element of the second which inspired that one.

Nigüelas is a small town about 30 minutes from Granada where there seems to be quite a community of music-lovers.The 12-year-old FIAPMSE festival is based there but includes concerts in the surrounding areas. I attended a concert last night, the first of this year’s festival to be held in Nigüelas itself, and had the pleasure of hearing one of Spain’s better guitarists as well as hearing the brand new and beautiful Concerto Gentil composed by the guitarist himself. I have known Fernando since the days when he played on Rolf Eichinger’s guitars and performed and recorded together with Evaristo Valentí.

bdr

The concert was very enjoyable but the guitar pieces were limited to the afore-mentioned concerto and the encore: Piazzola’s Verano Porteño. However, it is very satifying to take someone who is unfamiliar with the guitar to a concert and have them enjoy it. Some guitarists seem to play only for the other guitarists in the audience. This was not the case as I took my brother along last night and he thoroughly enjoyed the music and Fernando’s playing.