Guitarra Badalona weblog
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José Luis Romanillos passed away last February. This June we held a concert in his honor in Badalona.
He is one of the most prominent luthiers - or guitar maker, as he preferred to be defined - in recent decades worldwide.
He is a reference because his work as a guitar builder, but he is also a reference because his research work and his teaching activity, especially aimed at training new guitar makers.
Here we highlight the main events of his life.
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"El Noi de la Mare" is a traditional Catalan lullaby of unknown origin - probably from the 18th century - which, over time, has ended up forming part of the Christmas repertoire.
A very popular melody, many adaptations have been made of it, the arrangement for guitar made by Miquel Llobet (1878-1938) being especially famous.).
This was the piece that Zoran Dukic gave us as an encore at the end of the fantastic guitar recital he offered to us in Badalona on December 11, 2021. Zoran did not present the work. Simply, before playing, he addressed the audience and said: “I'm going to play a piece that I haven't played for a long time. It is so beautiful and surely you know it."
Here it is, sensitivity in its purest form:
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2022 is a very special year for the Badalona Guitar Association because it is our 10th Anniversary and we are going to celebrate it commemorating three other anniversaries coinciding this year: those of three historical luthiers, true references in the world of guitar making: Romanillos, Fleta and Enrique García.
We are preparing one event of homage to each of these illustrious guitar players, consisting in a conference or discussion on their importance, and a concert performed with an original guitar built by them.
Here you can find the information and the program of each of these events. They are still being worked on, so some details may change. For this reason, we will continue to updating this page in the coming weeks.
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10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BADALONA GUITAR ASSOCIATION
The Association was created in January 2012 at the initiative of a group of professionals from the world of classical guitar from Badalona, together with several fans, in order to organize events in our city that had classical and flamenco guitar as the protagonist.
In these ten years, the Badalona Guitar Association has managed to establish a regular program of classical guitar concerts in our city and bring to fruition other initiatives that, without its existence, would have been impossible.
By clicking on the button below you can see a brief summary in images of the activities carried out in these ten years.
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The Catalan violinist and composer Joan Manén i Planas created his “Fantasia - Sonata” for guitar in 1929, at the request of his friend Andrés Segovia. This piece is considered today one of the most important in the guitar repertoire of the first half of the twentieth century.
Last year, 2021, the “Year of Joan Manén” was celebrated to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of this great musician, who was famous and recognized in his lifetime and has been, however, quite forgotten after his death.
At our Autumn Concert, held in November 2021 in Badalona, Abel García Ayala wanted to join the tribute to the Master by performing his “Fantasia Sonata op. A-22 ” for guitar. You can watch te video of this performance here:
Portrait of Joan Manén made by Ramon Casas
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In the current year we are also celebrating the centenary of another great Argentine musician: Ariel Ramírez (1921-2010). Great pianist and prolific composer, he created a large number of musical works of all kinds, achieving world fame with some of them such as the song "Alfonsina y el Mar" (Alfonsina and the Sea), composed in collaboration with the writer Felix Luna.
Many adaptations of this beautiful work have been made for guitar, being currently a piece that many guitarists perform as an encore at the end of their recitals.
In the concert organized by our association in 2013 in Badalona, the South Korean guitarist Daekun Jang performed it masterfully. We remember it on the centenary of its author with the video we recorded:
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