For three days Kyiv string music devotees delighted in bolero, habanera, fandango, and of course the legendary flamenco – or Canto Hondo as the Spaniards call it reverently – performed by virtuosi from Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia.
The festival starred Spanish guitarist Jorje Cardosso, author of more than 300 original compositions. His solo concert of his own music at the Ukrainsky dim (Ukrainian House) demonstrated at least two predominant traits of Spanish music: (a) an aspiration for and skill in composing beautiful melodies and (b) an excellent command of impressionistic harmony whose richness is felt in literally every chord. For example, a musical series based on Indio Juan’s lyrics and faultlessly performed by Liliana Rodrigues pleases the European ear with familiar intonations but with totally unexpected, thus even more charming, tonal deviations, carrying the music above and beyond the banal, lending it a transcendental touch.
Oscar Herrero is best described as a pure flamenco-player. With his strict, even severe renditions he reminds the listener that the Canto Hondo dates from Greek-Byzantine music and ancient Spanish liturgies. Emerging in the middle of the century, flamenco became that very type of rendition which divided Spanish music into a mass one, rich in Oriental, Moorish elements, and “elite” music. Flamenco became truly widespread only in the late nineteenth century.
A Spanish bandurria was also present in the festival program, but it was never played. The performer, Carlos Usillios, played the mandolin accompanied by Jose Luis de Andres’s tenor lute and Jose Luis Martinez’s guitar. Mandolin does not sound too loud, so it would seem least befitting Christopher Auldrey’s “The Siege of Zaragosa.” But the musician made the instrument convey the piece’s “steel” rhythm and cascade crescendo. “In Spain, the bandurria was never called a folk instrument,” Mr. Usillios told The Day in an exclusive interview. “It has nothing in common with your Ukrainian bandura. Although both names originate from the Greek pandoura, they are very different. The bandurria is played with a plectrum and the bandura with fingernails. As for the Ukrainian instruments, I like the domra best. It has the same fret as the mandolin, but its sound is stronger.”
The Days of Spanish and Latin American Guitar Music open a series of guitar projects to culminate in an international festival this October.
Photo by Oleksiy Stasenko, The Day:
In the “guitar campaign” that took place in Kyiv, were the Martinez brothers from exotic Bolivia







