what’s up in Belgrade, Serbia – Pepe Romero
“Dario de Regoyos Playing the Guitar“ (1882)
______________
for Donna
struck by the intimacy, the emotional
resonance of the guitar, more outward,
more confessional, than introspective,
like the cello, I wondered at the reasons,
speculated merely, but with, to my mind,
unobjectionable conclusions finally, just
this side of actual proof of my, however
provisional nevertheless, conclusions
the guitar, I thought, when a friend
wrote about her especial appreciation
of it, is to both North and South
Americans a much more integral part
of our history, cowboys carried them
out on the range, be it American or
Argentinian
why, I wondered
well, I figured, it doesn’t have, first
of all, a bow, and it’s easy to carry,
a piano would, of course, be right
out of the question
and later in the evening, around a
fire, a cowboy can wrap his very
soul around this metaphor he’s
holding, and speak of his love and
his loneliness
you could try the same thing with a
mandolin, maybe, but it has, I think,
too playful a string to be ever so
meaningful and intimate
it seems, as well, that you can play
more than one note at a time on the
guitar, the thumb and at least one
other finger, to achieve harmonies
other instruments, including the
cello, can’t – I could never play two
notes at a time, for instance, on my
flute when I was flaying it
though I recently found out you can
play two notes together, at a time,
though with great difficulty, on the
violin, which could shoot all of my
theories into the water
stay tuned
listen to Pepe Romero, meanwhile,
astound you with first of all Rodrigo’s
“Concierto de Aranjuez” – you’ll melt
at the adagio – then with Francisco
Tárrega’s “Memories of the Alhambra”,
a piece that’s already written deep in
your bones, I promise you’ll
quiver
R ! chard
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