As you probably know, the Museum of Music in Barcelona has a great guitar collection including Fletas, Garcia, a few Torres, Pagés and many other spanish guitars. But what is a museum without programmed activities and the dissemination of knowledge? Here are currently planned activities at the Museum. Activities Among them is a series of talks offered by my friend Antonio Manjon, a guitar-maker 
from the area who is a frequent visitor to the Museum, especially to the guitar collection where we have studied many of the guitars.
Category Archives: People
Asociación de Guitarreros de Granada
California State University is for the second year in a row holding their Guitarra Española course (part of Summer Arts) here in Granada. This year twenty-four students have come to study the guitar in a wonderful setting with guitarists of international repute. This morning classes were cancelled and the Granada Guitar-makers Association was asked to invite the guitar-makers to show their guitars to these students. This was, for all intents and purposes, the public presentation of the Association. The students were thrilled to have us come to them and to meet the people behind their favorite instrument.
The guitar-makers association is made up of a group of makers who wish to have Granada recognized as an international centre for guitar-making, support one another and to convince the different levels of government that the guitar in general and specifically this craft is worth promoting. For this reason we support Summer Arts and Vicente Coves and his Festival Internacional de la Guitarra de Granada. Not all guitar-makers in Granada are members of the association and the reasons include the following. Some are not full-time, professional makers, some sell guitars made by others instead of their own work, and others can’t see the benefit of working towards common goals. We hope to convince a larger number of makers as time goes on.
Doctoral Thesis Aarón García Ruiz
Ever since the book about Granada guitar-makers was published the most informed critics have expressed a desire to see something more scholarly and extensive on the subject. Well, one of the authors of the book, Aarón García Ruiz, has made his doctoral thesis (2017) available and I would think that this will make those people happy. I attended the defense of his Ph. D. but only now will I be able to read the thesis. I am looking forward to it, I know that is is a revindication of the Granada School and that there is some very convincing evidence that Antonio de Torres learned from José Pernás who was in turn one of the greats of Granada. Download here.
Fernando Espí in Madrid
Saturday June 8 gave us the presentation of the Petrer Festival in Madrid at Guitarras de Luthier. Fernando Espí was responsible for the musical offering and chose to play pieces from four different epochs and used four different copies of period instruments. His choice for the 19th century was my copy of Antonio de Torres. I hope for a recording or a video at some point but I have heard that Fernando made the guitar sound great. Of course maybe the road goes both ways.
Pictures at a fiesta
I promised photos of this retirement party that José López Bellido organized so here are a few. It was very well-attended and the food and the wine was great. I had a chance to chat with most everyone there but particularily enjoyed hearing about the old times from these two giants:
I think everyone knows that when Manuel Bellido left Eduardo Ferrer’s shop he set up with Antonio Marín and started making history.