A chance to find out more about the artists at this year's Purbeck Guitar Festival
From giant insects, soldier ants, being tied up on a boat and angry Spanish wives - some of the experiences of the Purbeck Guitar Festival artists...!
To find out a little more about the artists at this year’s Purbeck Guitar Festival we asked each of them the following questions…
- What first inspired you to pick up your instrument, was it a particular piece of music of a guitarist?
- In a few words tell us what makes your instrument so special to you?
- Where is the most unusual place you have played? Or any other interesting, funny experiences you would like to share?
Here’s their answers…
Juan Martín
1. “The wonderful and intense sound of the flamenco guitar played close up by a good player.”
2. “The intimate lament of the guitar and the exciting rhythmic force of the flamenco technique.”
3. “I played a recital for a Spanish society group and they all were all enjoying my performance except one guy who looked a little miserable and never applauded like everyone else. After four or five pieces, as it was an intimate gathering, I asked him if he liked the music, he nodded. ’Then why do you never never put your hands together like the people around you and clap?’ I asked him. He held his arm up and he had a plaster of Paris the whole way up from his wrist to his shoulder! I felt so bad and his Spanish wife deservedly gave me a a high pitched telling off after the concert.“
Find out more about Juan Martín and his upcoming concerts on his Facebook page.
Juan Martín will be appearing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 14th June.
Xuefei Yang
1. “Fate introduced me to guitar. My parents wanted me to learn an instrument to calm me down as I was boisterous as a child. The music teacher at my primary school happened to be starting a guitar group, and my parents put me into that. I didn’t even know what a guitar was, but I have a vivid memory of my father bringing home a guitar in a cardboard box from the shop. I remember opening the box and plucked the strings – it was love at first touch.”
2 “The intimacy – you hold the guitar to your body and pluck the strings with your flesh. The sound is so warm and round.
The guitar draws an audience into its soundworld rather than forcing its sound onto them. It’s so versatile, you can play anything from pop to classical. It’s so portable too – you can take it anywhere like a partner, I take guitar on holidays and have played on the beach!”
3. “The most unusual concert venue was a cave in Cornwall! I and the audience had to wear miners hats throughout. It was very dark, damp and atmospheric!
The most unusual incident happened during a televised performance I gave in the open-air at the foot of the Qinling Mountain in Xian. A large flying insect suddenly landed on top of my guitar as I was playing. I was quite anxious and wondered what I should do as I was worried it would crawl onto me. I managed to flick it off and keep the music going ! As it was televised, it was captured on film – here’s the link“
Xuefei Yang will be appearing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 28th June
Carlos Bonell
1. “ My dad was a keen amateur guitar player in the Spanish style, and my mum used to sing. And I wanted to join in! I was 5 years old when I did.”
2. “The Magic box… play a note and I can hear it echoing inside the soundboard bouncing around into the distance… “
3. “ On a tug boat in St Helier harbour on the isle of Jersey. The audience was made up of yachts honking their appreciation. It was cold and windy but they surrounded me with electric fires. They also tied me to the chair, and the chair was chained down, just so I wouldn’t keel over into the depths! “
Carlos Bonell will be appearing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 28th June
John Mill and Serenata will be performing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 15th June
John Mills of Serenata
1. “I became interested in the guitar around 1954 with the emergence of rock/pop music. My first guitar actually had steel strings. A year or so later, with the arrival of a TV, and indeed going to the local cinemas in Kingston and Surbiton and Esher, I became aware of the guitar being used in soundtracks particularly to Western movies. I became obsessed with its captivating sound and colours, particularly in the more Mexican-based films. Radio was also important, because Radio Four, then the Home Service, fairly regularly featured classical music, and one day I heard the famous recording of Segovia playing a Bach Gavotte, and that was that as they say!
I quickly realised that steel strings were not going to do this, and a search was then made for a classical guitar… not easy in those days. What I did not realise was that players used nylon strings, and so my first few months of serious playing were on the old gut strings!”
2. “With the classical guitar, it is the ability to control up to 3 or 4 voices at one time – the counterpoint – that intrigued me. Plus the sheer beauty of the instrument’s delicate and warm tone, and the many different colours available, through woodwind, strings, brass and indeed percussion. A miniature orchestra! Also, the sheer range of music available is quite extraordinary, from 16th century onwards – a wide-ranging repertoire to say the least!”
3. “South East Asia, where in one major recital (audience of 2000+,) I noticed towards the end ,a vast column of soldier ants making their way across the stage towards me! Never did I play those last couple of pieces so fast!
Another occasion for a different reason, was in the mid-1980s giving a duo concert with my wife Cobie, on the lovely Stewart Island, the third island of New Zealand, right down in the south. It was a wonderful experience: they still had at that time wind-up telephones, generators for all the houses, and our concert in a beautiful church had to be candle-lit. A wonderful atmosphere.
4. Why did you start the Serenata Trio after so long as a soloist?
”I gave solo recitals for 61 years, and I think this is really enough. You tend to see nothing but hotels, concert halls, and airports, and the extreme fatigue does get to you, not to mention the worry and hassle of travelling with a prized and valuable musical instrument! So I now prefer to take on trio programmes, with Cobie and our son Richard ‘on board.”
Geoff Robb
1.”I actually started on the violin when I was 6 and was taught by my dad who is still performing now at the age of 80, but when I was 11 years old I wanted to learn the electric guitar instead, and my parents said I could have classical guitar lessons! I have to admit in hindsight it was a good idea as you can see the foundational techniques and training it gave me in my compositions and performances now.”
2. “The guitar is such a versatile instrument – I have studied both classical and jazz guitar but also play folk and Spanish guitar. I have a deep relationship with my classical guitar as I made it myself on an evening course over an 18 month period and spent time considering and choosing the Birds Eye Maple for the back and sides.
3. “I used to perform background music for events and that involved playing in all kinds of places including next to an octopus tank at the Sea Life centre in Brighton, on a moving steam train, in Buckingham Palace and the backstage bar at Glastonbury Festival.”
Find out more about Geoff Robb’s ‘The Music of Trees’ tour on his Facebook page.
Geoff Robb will be performing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 17th June.
Ricky Romain
1. “I first heard Indian Music in the 60’s through the influences of the Beatles in particular George Harrison. I was first inspired to pick up and purchase a sitar in 1972 when I went into a Sufi book shop looking for a book by Hazrat Inayet Khan. Above the book shop they were selling Indian Instruments.
I came back a month later with all the strings broken as I really had no idea how to tune it! It just so happened an Indian sitar player Punita Gupta (disciple of Ravi Shankar) was giving a concert that night and I stayed after the concert and asked her if she would teach me. I studied with her and lived with her family for approx. three years before studying with a Bengali sitar player Pandit Gunguly.”
2. “It not just the sitar and the sound that is so special but the whole of Indian Classical Music which has inspired and lead my life since then.”
3. “In October 2018 I played with tabla player at the Globe theatre for the Alternative Miss World Competition. Too extraordinary to explain. And on the week after the gig at Purbeck I am playing at the Albert Hall”
Find out more about Ricky Romain on his website.
Ricky Romain will be performing (with some special guests) at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 19th June
Peter Cooley
1. “When I was six years old I saw my dad playing a G chord on an acoustic guitar and I remember being mesmerised by the sound it made. I’m pretty sure it became a life long obsession at that point onwards.”
2. “I think I can speak for all guitarists when I say that guitars have untapped expressive capabilities. How you feel, how you think and what you hear around you all determine what sound ends up coming out of your hands. For me, guitar has always been my emotional outlet and without it I’m sure I’d be a mess of a man.”
3. “I was honoured to be asked to play a guitar solo in a Coca Cola/Jack Daniels commercial presentation that was hosted at the McLaren supercar headquarters. Not a bad day in the office for a small artist like me.”
Follow Peter Cooley on Facebook for details on upcoming concerts.
Peter Cooley will be perfoming at the Purbeck Guitar Festival (with special guests) on the 20th June
Dorset Guitar Society Orchestra
Dorset Guitar Society chairman John Edwards answered our questions…
1. “Personally, I first wanted to start playing the classical guitar after hearing recordings of Julian Bream and also hearing Recuerdos de la Alhambra that my dad had on a vinyl record performed by John Williams. I also remember watching the Katona Twins at a local music centre when I was around 10 years old. I love how versatile the guitar is- capable of many styles of music and ensemble combinations. The classical guitar is so delicate yet powerful at the same time.
3. “The most unusual place that the Dorset Guitar Society has performed was in 2016 at Hurst Castle in Keyhaven as part of a fund raiser for the maintenance of the castle. We needed to catch a ferry across to the castle and performed in the Garrison Theatre (a WWII Theatre constructed by soldiers) within the castle itself. The Audience were brought over in two trips by ferry- a very unusual but enjoyable experience.”
The Dorset Guitar Society Orchestra will be performing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 22nd June
Courtlye Musick
Q. What inspired you to start a medieval music group?
A. “Courtlye Musick was first created in the 1980’s when Medieval Banquets were a popular form of entertainment. As a group, we could earn money performing jolly dance music and songs for a couple of evenings a week.”
Q. Where do you normally play?
A. “Over time we expanded the instrument collection to provide a more authentic atmosphere and increased our musical repertoire for themed concerts for music clubs and societies.
For 21 years we played annually at the Leicester Early Music Festival, delivering workshops and ‘teddy bear’ concerts for children – and those young at heart. School workshops also became a regular occurrence with dance, drama and music turning a whole year group in Tudors for the day.
In 1986 we had our first experience of playing on-stage with Brownsea Open Air Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night, competing often with the calls of peacocks who wandered on to the stage area. Since then we have appeared in several of the company’s plays, including the year’s production at Canford.
Q. Where is the most memorable place you have played?
A. “Playing authentic instruments and music in historic settings such as castles and county houses has always been intriguing – in those locations, were we just a familiar echo of the past?
One amusing occasion occurred at Hever Castle. We were ready to play for a celebratory banquet and strolling along the corridor behind the minstrels’ gallery. The guests were about to enter via the drawbridge which was rarely used at that time. It was reluctant to drop, but a hefty kick helped it on its way, the guests entered and we played the part of candlelit ghosts from the windows.”
Courtlye Music will be performing at Kingston Country Courtyard on the 23rd June
Sam Brown
1 “Well, like most pluckers I started out life as a guitarist; I got into the lute while training at Royal College, pretty much by chance, and found it suited me pretty well! Pretty early on I fell into Dowland Works, a kind of lute-song club based around Emma Kirkby’s kitchen table, and that really cemented it for me. After I graduated I cut my nails (I don’t miss them!.”
2. “The lute is a really beautiful family of instruments (with mandolins at one end and theorbos at the other) and it ties into its times and places in a fascinating way. There’s never a dull or ugly moment.”
3. “A couple of years ago I played Giuliani’s first guitar concerto with Nairobi Orchestra in Kenya. While I was there I rented a motorbike and made a few trips via the Rift Valley escarpment – which is jawdropping and a bit of a deathtrap. The conductor got very annoyed that my hosts had let me ride the escarpment before the concerto!”
Sam Brown will be performing at the Purbeck Guitar Festival on the 26th June
Fretful Federation Mandolin Orchestra
Q. Describe a Mandolin Orchestra?
A. “Just like a string orchestra, except the violins are mandolin, the violas are mandolas, the cellos are mandocellos and the basses are mandobasses.
We love the rich orchestral sound and the diverse range of music we can play”
Find out more about the Fretful Federation Mandolin Orchestra on their website.
The Fretful Federation will be performing on the 27th June
