It was a relaxing evening recently for most music lovers of the City as Carmen Espinel, a guitarist from the land of Spain took the stage at Alliance Francaise. The concert called as the ‘Classical Guitar Weekend’ was organised by the Bangalore School of Music (BSM) in association with the Embassy of Spain. As the evening progressed, the lady went on to play some melodious tunes for those present.
The guests poured in to enjoy the show and the artist was seen interacting with many before the show. Singers and musicians were a part of the audience as well as they eagerly awaited for Carmen to start playing. The event began at 7.15 pm with an introduction to the artist by Aruna Sunderlal from the BSM. “She is here not just to perform, but also to judge the senior and junior levels of the National Classical Guitar Competition,” said Aruna, referring to the event that happened over the weekend at the Alliance. Following this, the participants of the competition were made to stand up and were cheered for.
Carmen came on stage post this, and expressed her pleasure at being in the City. However, she mainly spoke in Spanish to the crowd. She started off with a delightful tune called ‘Four differences about ‘Save the cows for me’’. Following this was a beautiful and romantic number called ‘Canarios’. ‘Prelude and Giga’ and ‘Prelude and Giga Double’ followed. ‘Allegro Spirit of the Sonata’, ‘Variated Fandango’, ‘Maria’, ‘Zorziko’, ‘Fandanguillo’, ‘Milonga’ and ‘Alfonsina and the Sea’ were some of the other tunes that followed.
The melodies for the evening included a range of music from the Renaissance to the Modern period. ‘Canarios’ by Gaspar Sanz, ‘Fandango by Aguado, ‘Classics’ by Tarrega, ‘Fandanguillo’ by Turino, ‘Milonga’ by Cardoso among others were some of the artist’s favourite masterpieces from the classical guitar repertoire.
All in all, it was a nice evening for most music-lovers. However, the latecomers spoiled a part of the show for many present, as they scrambled for chairs and tip-toed around the hall creating a huge stir.
