Latin American guitar concerts: ¡qué Rico!
October 26, 2005

*****

The mastery of guitarist Rico Stover will resurrect the music of great Latin American composers like Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Rafael Olmedo y Atahualpa Yupanqui during five concerts to be held in El Salvador in November.

The Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy and its binational center, the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño, are sponsoring the return to El Salvador of this American guitarist.

The performances in San Salvador, Soyapango, Santa Ana, San Miguel and Suchitoto (see insert) are the main events of his 15-day visit that will also include three workshops for guitar students and conferences on Latin American and Spanish guitar traditions.

The concerts

Stover promises for his concerts the “mandatory” works by Paraguayan Agustín Barrios Mangoré (2005 marks the 120th anniversary of his birth) and also compositions by Salvadoran 19th century musician Rafael Olmedo.

Drawing from research on Olmedo, Stover dug up 9 of the 30 guitar works that Olmedo composed. Says Stover, “In my concerts, I’ll play three of these works: ‘Ilusión que muere’, mazurka (Dying Ilusion), ‘El caballero de la triste figura’, vals (The Knight of the Sad Countenance), and ‘Polka No.2’.  Without going into a profound analysis, Olmedo’s work is well conceived in terms of harmony and form.  This, combined with his knowledge of the guitar, allowed him to produce works with a lot of charm and character and an aroma of tropical romanticism.”

The notes of “El carbonero” by Salvadoran Pancho Lara promise to convey Stover’s mastery and immerse the audience in the most representative Latin American guitar music of the last two centuries.

In Stover’s words: “To listen to Olmedo’s music is being passenger on a “cultural time machine,” going back to a night in 1885 in San Salvador, drinking sugar cane juice with close friends and listening to Master Olmedo playing his lovely works”.

Related Notes:
[ The “Richard” behind “Rico” ]