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Chinese virtuoso Xuefei Yang |
Jazz fest 'melting pot'
PREVIEW: LONDON GUITAR FESTIVAL
King's Place
THERE'S going to be a lot of strumming, riffing and shredding going on at Kings Place.
A four-day chamber festival of guitar-based music is being held at the cultural centre in York Way, King’s Cross, starting on Wednesday October 28.
The festival is the second to be arranged at the venue by the International Guitar Foundation, the arts agency devoted to promoting the instrument.
“We’ve tried to put together a cosmopolitan festival for a global city,” says Phil Castang, the IGF’s general manager.
“At its heart is the cultural golden age of the Aramaic, Jewish and Christian melting pot of Andalucia, lasting for around 800 years from about 700 to almost 1500.
“Rediscovering the music of this remarkable period has provided many of the highlights of recent years.”
The Vida Guitar Quartet, comprising some of the country’s top guitar players, are opening the festival with a distinctive Andalusian programme of music drawn from their debut album. Other top-notch players include Flamenco guitar virtuoso Juan Carlos Romero, jazz giant Martin Taylor and finger-style wizard Clive Carroll.
Then there’s Du OuD, a Paris-based Tunisian and Algerian oud-playing duo and Kentish Town-based Cuban guitarist Arhmed Dickinson Cardenas.
No festival would be complete without a Chinese virtuoso, of course, and that’s Xuefei Yang using her Rommich guitars as a bridge between Chinese and European music.
There will be four workshops on Saturday, October 31 and early booking is advisable as places are limited.
At one, the Vida Guitar Quarter is giving an ensemble playing class where players can join in as soloist, duo or ensemble.
Folk legend Martin Simpson is giving a master-class in 1960s British folk and American acoustic blues pioneers.
There will be a classic rock lesson devoted to such guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page.
Lastly, there is to be a workshop devoted to 60 years of rock and pop from Chuck Berry to AC/DC.
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