luthiers coming from different parts of the country and Spain will show their art and mastery of building guitars and other stringed instruments today and tomorrow, in Faro. The first edition of Riff Guitar festival starts at 14:00 this Friday and will be divided between the headquarters of the Gym Club of Faro (GCF), which organizes the initiative, and Club Farense, where the main concerts will take place.
In this event, the main stars «are the luthiers, that is, the handmade guitar builders, who make everything by hand. We are talking about workshops with a maximum of one, two or three elements», he revealed to Sul Informação Pedro Bartilotti, Chairman of the GCF Board.
«Riff Guitar was born from an idea of Nuno Bexiga, a member of the Gimnásio Clube de Faro, who already had the project conceived a few years ago. We still applied for the festival to “365Algarve”, but ended up not going forward», he said.
«In the meantime, we applied our activity plan, which included Riff, to the support of the Chamber of Faro and the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve and we got the necessary support to carry out the initiative», added Pedro Bartilotti.
Once the necessary conditions were met, the direction of the Gymnasium took to the road to organize the event.
«To set up this first edition, Nuno traveled around the country and contacted most of the guitar builders we invited. This is an unusual event in Portugal. It happens sporadically, but there is nothing regular», according to the GCF president.
«We had the help of a luthier here in the Algarve, João Pessoa. He gave us contacts and spoke with colleagues, ensuring that it was worth coming and that they would have all the conditions. Starting from the artisans, we built a whole program around them, with parallel activities linked to the guitar», explained Pedro Bartilotti.
Os luthiers guests «They will bring some of their pieces, mostly classical guitars, although there are also some flamenco guitars, coming from Spain, and classical instruments – violins and others. The builders will set up small workshops to demonstrate how to build and repair guitars».
In all, around ten and a half of luthiers Portuguese and Spanish. «Let's meet Andy Mason, a luthier British based in Mortágua who built guitars for Led Zeppelin and The Police. We also have João Pessoa, here in the Algarve, Cândido Jacob, from Coimbra, who is very well known, Adriano Sérgio, who has even been on the cover of a renowned magazine related to the area».
«Each will have its own small space in the Gym Club of Faro, where an open guitar activity will also take place, with an amplifier. Anyone who wants to can try out some of the guitars in this room between 14 pm and 00 pm», announced Pedro Bartilotti.
At the same time, at Club Farense, with whom the GCF has established a partnership, there will be an exhibition of guitars, all of them hand-painted by Luís Espírito Santo. At night, there will be concerts, in the main hall of this collective, in the heart of downtown Faro.
"We divided the concerts, which will be moments to decompress, in the Acoustic Night, which will take place on Friday, and the Electric Night, taking place on Saturday," said the president of the Gimnásio Clube de Faro.
Today, Friday, a trio led by Luísa Amaro, “who accompanied the late Carlos Paredes on the guitar”, will take to the stage. Also today, «the well-known double bass player Carlos Barreto and António Eustáquio, who will play a guitar, which is a larger guitar, are performing». Finally, Amar Guitarra, from Faro, with João Cunha and Pedro Mendes.
«On Saturday, we will have the virtuoso Tuniko Goulart, who has already played with great figures in international music. More recently, he was one of the musicians invited by Madonna to participate in the small show she gave at the final of the Eurovision Festival, in Israel», added Pedro Bartilotti, in an interview with Sul Informação.
On the two days after the shows, there will be Jam Sessions, «in which the present guitarists will be invited to take the stage».
On the two days of the festival, between 16 pm and 00 pm, there will be concerts in the street, in front of the GCF, in partnership with the Algarve Blues Association.
Another attraction is the giant guitar that is displayed on the facade of the Gimnásio building, on Rua Ivens, across from Rua de Santo António. This piece «is about four meters high» and was built by the artist from Faro, Tó Quintas, at the invitation of the GCF board.
Tickets for the exhibitions taking place at the Gimnásio and at Club Farense cost 2 euros. Tickets for Acoustic and Electric nights cost 10 euros (one night) or 15 euros (two nights).
Complete Riff Guitar Program:
Friday October 11th
14:00 – Luthiers workshops and exhibitions
16:00 pm – Blues downtown with Road 31
21:00 pm – Acoustic Night Concert
– Luísa Amaro, Ana Sádio and Heloísa Monteiro
– Carlos Barretto and António Eustáquio
– Love Guitar
saturday 12 october
14:00 – Luthiers workshops and exhibitions
16:00 pm – Blues downtown with Vitor Bacalhau and Nanook
21:00 pm – Electric Night Concert
– Tuniko Goulart Trio and guests
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