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LP
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FTR 282LP
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"The Portuguese guitar is a kind of weird instrument. It has a teardrop shaped body, twelve strings, an odd tuning scheme, and is generally associated with the mournful Portuguese musical style called fado. It's not often used as an improv instrument, especially in avant-garde settings, but that was before Victor Herrero got his hands on one. Probably best known for his work with Josephine Foster, Victor is a Spanish guitarist and composer, whose work ranges from very traditional to beyond contemporary. On a trip to Lisbon a decade or so ago, he and Ms. Foster became enthralled by the glittering tone qualities of the Portuguese guitar, and decided to go halves on one. A lot of wood-shedding and investigating various musical forms ensued, as the guitar traveled around Spain and then the rest of the world with the pair. It was used as part of a show with Keiji Haino in Japan. It figured into a recording session with some of the Master Musicians Of Jojouka. It was noted performing duets with saxophonist Sonny Simmons. And so on. Removed from its parochial context, the instrument showed itself to be an incredibly limber and adaptable axe. Astrolabio is an album of solo compositions and improvisations for Portuguese guitar that defies easy classification. Its tone is so bright and folky it almost sounds like a hammered dulcimer in spots, but Jean Ritchie would probably keel over if she heard this record. At times, Victor's playing emphasizes the ethereal beauty of the strings' natural vibrations, but he can also create insane rafts of sound with Northern African rhythms crossing swords with chunks of string sound as mysteriously fried as anything ever done by Loren Connors. Totally boss, and unlike anything we've ever heard before. Prepare thyself to deal..." --Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 500.
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CD
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WEAVIL 035CD
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This is the debut, full-length release by Spanish guitarist Victor Herrero. Introduced to music in his childhood while living in the famous monastery Franco erected in a mountain valley west of Madrid (El Valle de los Caídos), Herrero learned to sing Gregorian and Mozarabic chant under the guidance of Benedictine monks. Joining the abbey's well-respected boys' choir, he performed in and around Europe and was featured on the soundtrack and as an extra in the Belgian cult film Farinelli (Gérard Corbiau, 1994). Around this time, he began studying the classical guitar. As a teenager back in his hometown of Toledo, he formed a psych-rock outfit called Cicely, which grew into a popular Madrid-based band. The group lasted 8 years. Following this break-up, Victor recorded and released an album of his solo piano compositions (Connotaciones Para Piano) under his old stage name Victor Cicely. Shortly after this period, Victor began collaboration with Josephine Foster, accompanying her frequently in concert as well as in the recording studio, most recently playing lead guitar on her 2008 album This Coming Gladness (WEAVIL 031CD/LP). Anacoreta is a collection of his instrumental songs written for and interpreted upon the Spanish guitar, and the music embodies different styles which have all formed a part of his experience -- classical, folkloric and contemporary threads -- all united under the strong influence of traditional música Andaluz.
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