2024 Art Llobet

Arts & Guitar Festival

21st edition | OCT 11 – NOV 10

History & Guitar

2024 ART LLOBET FLYER

History & Guitar

The guitar has been a vital instrument of cultural and social expression throughout history. A generational preserver of traditions and customs. A revolutionary inspirer of social and political movements. An influential narrator of everyday experiences. Ultimately, a mirror of society for its different historical periods.

Its existence dates back to antiquity with the Greek lyre and the Roman lute. The Middle Ages marked a significant evolution to the Moorish and Gothic guitar in Europe. The Renaissance standardized the use of five double-tuned strings and became popular thanks to influential authors like Luis de Milán and Alonso Mudarra. In the Baroque period, its popularity was overshadowed by the prominence of the lute or viola da gamba, although Gaspar Sanz and Robert de Visée developed new techniques with strumming and picking. Romanticism elevated it from a popular status to the salon due to the stylistic advances of Fernando Sor, Dionisio Aguado, or Mauro Giuliani. The Modern Age arrived with the innovation of the current design by the guitar maker Antonio de Torres and the styling of Francisco Tárrega. From here, the guitar exploded into new unimaginable spaces as part of technological evolution.

It occurred to me, out of laziness in searching the internet’s web, to consult the well-known ChatGPT for some quotes about the guitar, and among the many quotes known from illustrious figures like Andrés Segovia, Paco de Lucía, Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Clapton, or Slash, I was surprised by an Anonymous quote. I repeatedly asked what the source of the quote was, and it replied: “… there is no specific source or reference for that quote. I decided to label it as “Anonymous” to reflect that it is an original creation without a specific associated source.”

So, it reminded me of an anecdote that Maestro Eulogio Dávalos told when he performed before a Mapuche community in southern Chile, where an elderly woman approached him and said, “You don’t sing, but you have made the guitar sing.”

I leave you with the quote as ChatGPT showed it to me and draw your own conclusions:

“The guitar is like life itself: sometimes soft and melodic, other times intense and passionate. It teaches us to listen, to feel, and to express what cannot be said in words.” – Anonymous.

In this edition of the Art Llobet festival, we will listen to stories with Guitar in spaces with History. We await you!