| press history - page « 1 2 3 » |
| The Guitar Duo |
| Der neue Tag 10./11.10.1998 |
| ... Because the two avoid getting into superficial effects and experiments, they let intensive ,guitaristic' thoughts rise so the surface. Indian and oriental classical music, jazz and flamenco enter into an almost intimate dialog... |
| The Guitar Duo |
| Scala 11.98 |
 A flamenco and a classical guitar meet here for a splendid session.
Although, according to the statements of the musicians of "The Guitar Duo", spanish, asian and jazz elements run together the iberian colour is predominantly.
Faultless, elegant technique make a positive general impression sure, even if the ten songs on "Azucena" are not really different from each other.
Manuel Delgado's and Ralf Siedhoff's songs are in any case more original and more creative than, for example, the ones of Ottmar Liebert, with his overproducted "New Flamenco Esoteric".Wolf-Christian FinkMusic: good
Sound: very good
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| The Guitar Duo |
| FRÄNKISCHER TAG BAMBERG - Septembre 1998 |
A trip into new sound spheres
Jazz, flamenco and more with "The Guitar Duo" in the "Neuen Palais" of Bamberg
The flamenco guitarist Manuel Delgado from Barcelona and the jazz guitarist Ralf Siedhoff from Weimar met first in August 1997. What started with an international meeting of musicians in Tunis and a concert in the Amphitheatre of Carthago became within one year "The Guitar Duo" whose first CD was recently completed. For one week they are now on tour in Germany and within this tour they guested in Bamberg last Thursday in the "Neuen Palais".
So for the opening of the season there was a dialog in guitar-language between the north and the south of Europe. Rather in various guitar-languages because the different musical roots of the two musicians are also the main topic of their co-operation. With their own compositions they are searching for a way without musical borders. Certainly the flamenco and Iberian stylistic elements are dominating even if some African, Indian or Middle Eastern sounds smuggle into the songs now and then and Siedhoff does not deny his jazz origin.
Already with his first piece "Aquellos Gitanos" Manuel Delgado swings himself up to flamenco flights to which however Siedhoff knew how to add a few jazz elements. The result therefore was very distant from every folkloric banging melodics which are sold to every holiday-maker in Andalusia in the dives of Malaga as the real flamenco. Delgado brought the warm spain with his Solo Buleria (one variante of Andalusian folk music) to the autumn Germany. With "Dorsaf", which is dedicated to a female Tunisian singer, Delgado and Siedhoff reminded of the World-Music-Festival in Tunis that brought them together and whose musical elements, which were assembled there, formed their style. The Siedhoff composition "Waiting for a friend" shows the attachment to the free-jazz as well as to the Indian Raga music.
And there are far more possibilities. Siedhoff underlined this later with pieces like "Song for the Raï-House" - his musical home in Leipzig - or "Kleines Lied" where the play with jazz and folk elements was mixed with free improvisation. But the two guitarists do not play themselves or their styles in any way against each other. The harmony was perfect and if one of them performed a furious solo the other one formed the suitable background. On their trips into new sound spheres they drive each other forward. Perfectly tuned caesuras, abrupt changes in time, breathtaking fast successions of chords - the general impression of the evening was a strong dynamically push forward - a musical vortex. And with the partly maddening tempo of the pieces both of them showed commanding knowledge of guitar-playing. That also includes stroking, tapping, striking or sweeping, which allowed the two musicians to elicit additional nuances from their acoustic guitars. So there was not only technically brilliant resonance but also very intensive expression. Even though the words are borrowed from another genre of music it shall be allowed to say that the concert of the Guitar-Duo had "groove and soul". |
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