Guitar Revival

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30979, 8 February 1966, Page 10

Guitar Revival

Laurindo Almeida, the Brazilian guitarist who will give a concert in Christchurch on Tuesday, February 22, does not find the phenomenal growth of interest in the classical guitar strange. “Bach appeals to listeners today—and not only because he can be swung although that does not harm him in any way,” he says. “In his construction and the way he appeals to the listener, Bach is as much of our time as he is in his day. He understood about improvisation—it was as important in the music of his time as it is in jazz today. It is simply satisfying music—satisfying then, and satisfying now Folk singing has helped the growth of the guitar, too, as have contemporary composers like Villa-Lobos, who came from Brazil and who was a close friend of mine.

“And the guitar is adaptable to the classics or to jazz, but the use of the electric guitar by the rock ’n’ roll groups has not done anything to help either the guitar or the music. Generally it is played only as a percussion instrument so that no-one can appreciate its tones. But perhaps the youngsters who are so fond of it now will some day realise it is capable of making many more sounds than the ones they know now."