|
Press
Guitars of Spain always retuning show
MUSIC
By HOWARD DUKES
Tribune Staff Writer
Southbend Tribune
July 10, 2010
The world music ensemble Guitars of Spain might remind some of that old saying about rivers.
Photo provided
Carlo Basile, guitarist and founding member of the world music ensemble Guitars of Spain, and dancer Wendy Clinard perform Saturday at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks.
You never see or hear the same band twice, and that’s the way Carlo Basile wants it.
Guitarist Basile, dancer Wendy Clinard and vocalist/composer Patricia Ortega are Guitars of Spain’s three constants.
But many other musicians, Basile says, work with the band, which performs Saturday at the Acorn Theater.
“We are always bringing performers in from the world music scene,” Basile says.
For example, Guitars of Spain worked with musicians from Senegal and India in the last month.
Basile says it’s all about ensuring that the ensemble’s sound remains fresh.
“I like to create musical variety,” he says.
Bringing in different musicians from different parts of the world ensures that the group’s sound never gets stale.
“We just want to keep things interesting,” he says.
Guitars of Spain’s rotating lineup has another implication for Basile. He is constantly on the lookout for musicians he believes can add something to the group.
The fruits of Basile’s scouting will be on display at the Acorn.
Dancer Timo Lozano will perform at the show.
“He’s an interesting guy who’s been around the world,” Basile says.
Those travels give Lozano the kind of real world experience that makes him ideal for Guitars of Spain.
Lozano was born in the United States, but he lived for years in Spain.
Lozano’s background is different from many other dancers in that he is a Vietnam war veteran who didn’t allow the war to prevent him from dancing.
“Timo used to do flamenco dancing when he was in Vietnam to entertain the troops,” Basile says.
Basile says he has performed with Lozano several times over the years.
“So I kind of knew him, and then he moved back to the United States,” he says.
Lozano settled in the Chicago area, which is where Guitars of Spain is based, and he started working with the group.
All of the performers have qualities that make them attractive to the group, Basile says.
“I always have my eyes and ears open for someone who is into world music,” he says. “I want to find musicians who have been out in the world and have done some things. I am also looking for open-minded people.”
There is a reason why Basile needs highly adaptable players who come from a variety of backgrounds — world music can mean different things to different people.
From the standpoint of Guitars of Spain, the group incorporates the music of Spain, Latin America and Africa.
“Most people, when you say, ‘Spanish guitar,’ have a good idea of what that might be,” Basile says. “You could be talking about a traditional guitar or classical guitar.
“Some people might even think about Latin American, Cuban, Brazilian, and all of that is right because all of it is influenced by the music of Spain and Africa.”
Those influences can be heard in the traditional songs and more contemporary tunes performed by Guitars of Spain.
Basile says the group recently gave the Roberta Flack song “Killing Me Softly” a flamenco arrangement. The group does the same thing with jazz standards.
Basile notes that Miles Davis’ album “Sketches of Spain” was greatly influenced by Spanish music.
“Miles Davis did some interesting things with the music of Spain,” Basile says. “And if he were alive today, he would see that Spanish artists are doing interesting stuff with jazz.”
University of St. Francis (October 2009)
"Carlo, thanks again to you and your ensemble. The performance was very exciting and we had nothing but the most positive comments from our audience."
Review: Las Guitarras de España: Cuatro Por Arriba (May 2008)
If you’ve been to Spain, or even snapped a castanet, Las Guitarras de España’s latest album will evoke the swirling world of Flamenco. Based in Chicago, the ensemble members have musical roots in Brazil, Peru, Italy, Cuba, Mexico, and Portugal – and all influences have married beautifully on this disc. It rocks an Afro-Cuban beat and flirts with swing riffs of blues and jazz. The core group – a percussionist, vocalist and guitarist – composed most of the music, often augmented by additional players: a bassist, cellist, two guitars, and flamenco dancers. The opening track, “Junto a Ti,” starts the album off with addictive energy, prompting lively listeners to perform some tango, rumba and mambo moves around the living room. On the track “Sevilla,” I felt the whirling skirts and group cries of encouragement and delight. The Roberta Flack hit, “Killing Me Softly,” is haunting and lyrical when sung in Spanish. The "Guitars of Spain" will lift you, lilt you and probably make a dancin’ fool out of you. Cuatro por Arriba is hot as an evening in sunny Spain. Feel the vibe live when the band performs at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, Mich., on Sat., May 3 at 8 p.m.
Bottom line: Be prepared to move to the grooves of this spicy Spanish album.
–Gail Isaacson
Pioneer Press (September 2007)
In the capable hands of an acclaimed Chicago ensemble, the warm sound of Spanish flamenco music is able to embrace other musical traditions from around the world. By incorporating instruments and musical flavorings from Asian and African music, Las Guitarras de España (The Guitars of Spain) is taking an unconventional musical journey, but their willingness to expand the boundaries of Latin music is winning enthusiastic fans.
Tickets are being snapped up for the ensemble's Sept. 28 show at the College of Lake County in Grayslake. The group performed at the college in 2005 and won audience applause following a set that blended flamenco and East Indian music and dance, said Gwethalyn Bronner, executive director of the James Lumber Center.
Dancers are part of the show being presented by Las Guitarras de España on Sept. 28 at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts, College of Lake County, Grayslake.
"They did a wonderfully inventive and unique collaboration called 'Unraveling Rhythms' that showed the relationship between the different styles of music and dance," Bronner said. "The audience liked them a lot. I had never seen a presentation like that before."
The ensemble's exploration of world's rhythms has been heard in many far-flung locales: Morocco, India, Cambodia, Senegal, Mali, Guinea and - perhaps the most unlikely venue of all - at Lollapalooza, the three-day rock festival on Chicago's lakefront.
"We went to Lollapalooza this August and did a totally acoustic set with no amplification," said Carlo Basile, the guitarist/founder of the group. "It was funny because there was all this loud stuff going on around us, but in our little space, people really loved it."
If the ensemble is confidant enough to add, for example, Afro-Cuban percussion and the kora, an African stringed instrument, to its lineup, that's because it has a solid background in studying and performing traditional flamenco music. Its first CDs display a mastery of moods, whether tender, meditative or melancholy, in its pairings of guitar and cello.
Its new CD, "Cuatro por Arriba," extends the group's traditional sound by adding Latin horns, Basile said. The horn section will be in the College of Lake County show, as will two dancers, Chiara Lucia Mangiameli (who will also sing) and Wendy Clinard.
The group's many influences stem from trips overseas, where they study, perform and meet indigenous musicians. Adding exotic instruments is part of an organic creative process for the musicians, Basile said.
Artistic license
"We go to places and get inspired by what's going on and then we bring it back to our music," he said. "There are people who get hung up on the idea, 'It's got to be a certain way because I was in Spain and I saw a flamenco dancer with castanets and a polka-dot dress.' That's fine, and we do that sometimes in our shows. But if you're an artist, you have to tinker with these things. What is it that we do - Do I recreate somebody else's music or do I try to create my own?"
Sometimes the musicians connect intuitively with other cultures, he said. Once, while walking down a street in the Indian state of Rajasthan, Basile and some ensemble members encountered a group of what he called "Indian gypsies," who asked if they wanted to play some music.
"I don't even know how this happened; I didn't even have a guitar with me," he said. "Right away, I went back and got my guitar. It turns out there is some evidence that the gypsies in Rajasthan, India went all the way to the south of Spain. Sure enough, when you listen to their rhythms, you hear some similarities to what we're doing. So they were all over the stuff we were playing. It took them only about five minutes to figure it out. There was some kind of connection there."
So while purists might say "You can't mess with flamenco," there are many other who reinforce Basile's eclectic approach. According to Basile, ensemble member Alfonso Cid, a flautist who hails from Seville, Spain, once told him, "I grew up studying this music, but I love what you're doing. You grew up in Chicago and you bring some blues or jazz elements to this material."
"When someone who grew up with flamenco says, 'Hey, keep going,' it makes you think, 'Hey, don't worry about it, it's OK.'"
By JACK BESS/Contributor
Gapers Block Blog by Marla Seidell (February 2007)
Performing to yet another sold-out crowd, the next dance event of interest was Las Guitarras de Espana — the Chicago-based, nine-piece ensemble that fuses together flamenco, world music and jazz elements. The addition of local dancer Wendy Clinard and singer Alfonso Cid as guest performing artists made this a dizzyingly good show. The music was jazzy and brassy, flavorful — with elements of klezmer a bit melancholy but with high-spirited jazz that rounded it out into a delicious blend of flamenco fusion. Clinard demonstrated that flamenco is not something one can do without a lot of feeling involved — so intense and vividly poignant was her performance.
Rick Kogan WGN Radio (February 2007)
"Cuatro por Arriba is a grand, lovely piece of work."
WBEZ RADIO (December 2005)
Las Guitarras de España's new CD, Un Respiro por El Mundo is innovative and delicious."
Partial List of Performance Venues and Clients (2000-2010)
EDUCATIONAL - CULTURAL
Old Town School of Folk Music
Hothouse Center for International Performing Arts
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Indiana University-Purdue University
Parker Middle School
McHenry County College
Northeastern Illinois University
Schaumburg Township District Library
Oak Lawn Library
Lake Forest Schools
New Trier High School
Fenwick High School
Evanston School (25 performances in 2004)
Village of Lake Zurich
Chute Middle School
Dawes Elementary
Dewey Elementary
Walker Elementary
Willard Elementary
Northwestern University
DePaul University
Mother McAuley High School
Chicago Cultural Center
Harold Washington Library
Adler Planetarium
Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater
Millennium Park
City of Chicago
College of Lake County
North Central College
Malcolm X College
Vandercook College
Northside College Prep
Links Hall
Acorn Theater
University of Tennessee
University of South Carolina
Longwood University
George Mason University
Music Institute (Evanston)
Morgan Park Academy
Gorton Community Center
Sandburg College
Prairie Center for the Arts
CORPORATIONS
Nordstom
Bloomingdales
Neiman Marcus
Sax Fifth Avenu
Macy's
Eve Alfile Gallery
Levy Restaurants
Advocate Healthcare
Whole Foods
Wine Styles
Highland Park Hospital
Edward Hospital
Evanston Hospital
Glenbrook Hospital
RESTAURANTS & RECEPTIONS
Cafe Brauer
Meson Sabika
Tru
Mercat a la Planxa
Haro Tapas
Galeria Marchetti
Independence Grove
Maggiano's
Geneva National Golf Club
Adobo Grill
Va Pensiero
Spiaggia
Adler Planetarium
Green Zebra Lounge
The Cotillion
Mia Francesca
Pane Caldo
Lake Catherine Nature Preserve
Villa Verone
HOTELS
The Drake
The Peninsula
The Four Seasons
The Ritz Carlton
The Fairmont
The Intercontinental
The Conrad Hilton
The Westin River North
The Westin City Center
The Marriott
The Swissotel
The House of Blues Hotel
The Double Tree
The Hyatt Regency
The Wyndham
The Ambassador East
The Allerton
The Knickerbocker
The Sutton Place
The Sheraton
Hotel 71
The Blackstone
The Sofitel
The Whitehall
The Palmer House
The Chicago Hilton
The W Hotel
The Sutton Place
The Park Hyatt
|