Before the covid-19 pandemic hit, this evening would have been host to a concert that I was very excited about organizing. For a few years now I had been discussing the idea of a musical tribute to one of my favourite guitarists/composers of all time, Agustín Barrios Mangoré. The idea started to gain momentum when my longtime friend Luis Rojas Lloyd-Dmon, director of Casa Maíz Cultural Centre, got on board and we started planning in a serious way sometime last year. I wanted it to be a collaborative effort that could draw musicians, audience members, and community partners together to share the music and legacy of this great artist.
I started pitching the idea to other guitarists and was eventually able to secure a fantastic lineup of performers. I was very excited to perform alongside Juan Carlos Laguna from Mexico and Leonardo Muñoz Quiroz from Chile, as well as Fernando Santana Suri and Alex Izquierdo whom I met as undergraduate students at U of T studying guitar. Ramsés Calderón, one of the world’s foremost scholars on Barrios and who recently published groundbreaking new volumes on works by him, was going to come out and share with us both his knowledge and his playing.
In February, the Ontario Arts Council announced that they would be partially funding the concert – and in their feedback were tremendously optimistic and excited about the project.
Together, we were all preparing for a memorable night that would be intimate, moving, and hopefully more than a little inspirational. It is unfortunate that instead I will most likely just be spending yet another night playing guitar at home alone.
I am confident that the show will go on in some way in some capacity. The music of Barrios has survived nearly a century, and the classical guitar has been around even longer, so whatever happens with this virus I believe that the knowledge, tradition, and legacy of this music will still be alive and give hope to many.
I am also very thankful for connections I have made in this process, and especially thankful to Ramses for meeting with me when I came to Ottawa, and for sharing his knowledge. I am truly grateful for this connection and hope that we can perform together sooner rather than later.
This note is long enough so I’ll leave you with a short playlist of some Barrios recordings. Wishing you all the best in health and safety, and lots of love…