I am reproducing the content of a pamphlet advertising this guitar course in Spain. For further information please contact:

24, 25 y 26 de Agosto de 2016.
• El curso está dirigido a estudiantes de grado elemental, medio y
superior.
• El horario será de 9.30 a 13:45 de la mañana y de 16:30 a 19:45
de la tarde.
• Matrícula alumno activo: 50€/55 minutos de clase; 90€ 2 clases
de 55 minutos.
• Matrícula alumno oyente: 35€, acceso a todas las clases.
• El pago de la matrícula se hará en efectivo al inicio del curso.
• Es obligatorio previa reserva llamando al teléfono 635957282
(Fernando)
• El último día de curso se realizará una audición con los alumnos
activos y se efectuará la entrega de diplomas.
• Los alumnos tendrán un pase gratuito para la Piscina Municipal
durante todo el curso

I took pictures of all four guitars that I am making but one didn’t turn out so here are the backs of three of them.  Wood has such character both when you work it and just the aesthetics of it.  Two of these guitars are copies of a Santos that I examined last year and drew a plan for.  The original back has a white strip down the middle so I did that on one but on the other one there was just enough sapwood to get a similar effect so I left it that way.  I usually try, in making copies, to get close to the sound and the construction and make the visuals exactly the same but I have a feeling that someone will appreciate this little variation.  The Santos was made with solid linings on top and back so that meant I had to change a few of my working methods as I always use “peones” against the top. All four guitars should be ready to ship at the end of September. 

The Córdoba Guitar Festival, as most of you know, brings some of the greatest guitarists in the world to stages throughout the city in the month of July.  What you may not know is that each year conferences and seminars are held celebrating one particular figure in the world of the guitar. While these “Jornadas de Estudio” add an intellectual aspect to the festival they would be as ephemeral as the concerts if it were not for the fact that they are published the following year in a monographic book. Last year’s VIP was Miguel Llobet, a spanish guitarist who left his mark on the guitar and its music mostly in the beginning of the 20th century.  The book was presented today in Córdoba and as one of the authors Iwas invited to attend. I have yet to read the book but we were talking about it all day today and it sounds well worth the price. Only published in Spanish of course.  Javier Riba has reproduced the prologue in his blog. Below is a photo by Toni Blanco of Josep María Mangado another of the authors, the head of culture for the city of Córdoba María del Mar Téllez and editor Javier Riba and yours truly. As for the article which I wrote with Antonio Manjón I hope to get permission to translate it from Spanish into English and publish it here. Congratulations are in order to Javier Riba for the excellent job he did as co-ordinator of the seminars as well as editor of the book.

Thursday saw the passing of a flamenco legend:  Juan Carmona. The family has used the nickname of Habichuela for years so he was professionally known as Juan Habichuela or Juan Carmona Habichuela.  Born in 1933 Juan began dancing at the age of ten but turned to the guitar at the age of 15 and quickly gained fame as an accompanyist.

Juan played for singers such as Fosforito, Camarón, Manolo Caracol, Mairena, Bernarda de Utrera and Enrique Morente. These days flamenco guitarrists in general have followed in the footsteps of Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo and Gerardo Nuñez in that the instrument is a solo voice or often the focal point of a concert or album.  Juan was old school and for the most part limited himself to accompanying great singers.

Among the recordings made over a life of flamenco are: his first album with Rafael Farina, another with Manolo Caracól, a 1999 album with greats including Paco de Lucia and José Mercé, “Campo del Principe” (2002) with Juanito Valderrama, and Enrique Morente and others, and in 2007 “Una guitarra en Granada”. Juan toured extensively and had played in New York, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Mexico, Bogota and other cities all over the world.

His legacy is the profound respect that his colleagues had for the man and his criteria, the music and of course the saga of artists that follow him: his sons Juan y Antonio and his nephew José Miguel -members of Ketama-, su nephew Pepe Luis, founder of  La Barbería del Sur and his grandson Juan Carmona an excellent guitarist in his own right.

Guitarra en los jardines del Falla.  Falla is the name given to the classical music auditorium here in Granada (Auditorio Manuel de Falla).  This will be the third year that guitar concerts will be offered in the courtyard.  A lovely, cool venue for wonderful music.  Here is the lineup.

14 de julio 2016

Rafael Aguirre

21 de julio 2016

Eduardo Inestal

28 de julio 2016

David Martínez

4 de agosto 2016

Alí Arango

11 de agosto 2016

Liu Xianji (Ganador Concurso Internacional Gredos San Diego (Madrid)

18 de agosto 2016

Javier Conde

25 de agosto 2016

Deion Cho

1 de septiembre 2016

J. Clerch

Visit the webpage for tickets.