Agustín Barrios "Mangoré" - An expert on my field.

 

 

Because music is my field of activity, specifically classical guitar performance, I have decided to talk about a guitarist and composer named Agustín Barrios “Mangoré”. This guitarist was born in 1885, in Paraguay and died in 1944, in El Salvador. His father was Argentine, but from the side of his mother he had Guarani bloodline. He is one of the most important figures in paraguayan culture and also in Latin America. He traveled through many countries and cities in Latin America, where he learned and rescued traditional dances and songs from almost all Latin American countries. His musical language is a mixture of Latin American folk music and European classical music. His concert programs included both the music of Bach and Beethoven, as well as his own compositions and folkloric pieces. It became known throughout Latin America under the pseudonym “Nitsuga Mangoré”, “Nitsuga” by Agustín written backwards, and “Mangoré” in honor of a legendary Guaraní cacique. In his research to represent his culture, Mangoré even costumed himself as a Guaraní indigenous for his concerts.

Agustín Barrios Mangoré is currently one of the most played composer by classical guitarists worldwide. His work includes around 300 pieces for solo guitar, for example, dances, preludes, studies and fantasies. In my opinion, he is one of the most important figures in the history of Latin American music and the guitar, because he transcended to the present day thanks to his investigative work, collecting folk music and taking it to the top of the culture. He is an artist and a role model that I greatly admire, and my personal project about music is inspired in Barrios, because I want to perform latinoamerican music, create a mixture of folclore and classical music, write my owns compositions, and rescue the typical music of us culture, similar to what Barrios did.

My childhood series

 

 

 

I remember when I was a child, the first cartoon I became a fan was Dragon Ball. It was transmitted on the national channels, and I didn't miss any chapter. Even, with my dad we tried to record the movies on VHS. Goku was a hero to me. I remember since I was kid playing to train some kind of martial art in the backyard of my house. I was such a fan of Goku that for a birthday of a friend I dressed up like him.

A few years later, with the arrival of Cable TV to my house, I began to see the Cartoon Networks and Nickelodeon cartoons. My favorites were Courage the Cowardly Dog and Cat-Dog. The stories in these cartoons were very rare, but I really liked the colors and the atmosphere created. Especially Courage, looking at it from my current point of view, I could consider this cartoon as surreal, due to the impossible of certain stories and the strangeness of the characters.

During my adolescence, I began to like Japanese cartoons or anime again, and at that time my favorite was Hunter X. I remember that after school I always rushed home to see it. Currently, in fact, I am still seeing this type of drawing, in series and movies. I find that it is quite an art, and Hayao Miyazaki's films are an admirable example of what a drawing can express.

 

The Story of a Picture

This picture was taken in Chiloé, exactly 2 years ago. In this picture we can see my colleagues from the Cuarteto Movimientos, guitar quartet which we formed in 2016. Together we have performed in various stages and theaters in Santiago, also in nearby towns such as Paine or Peñaflor. But we had never come as far from home as that time. This picture is from the educational concerts tour we did together, which started in Temuco, passing through Valdivia, then Puerto Montt and ending in Castro, all in one week.

I remember it was very exciting, because we were able to stay in incredible places like palafitos, share with school students and eat a lot of typical food from the south of the country. This entire tour was financed with the support of the National Music Fund and the entire itinerary was managed by a producer, Khalo, who is also a musician and he was the person who took this photo of us on stage.

I love this photo, it brings me back good memories of these concerts, nostalgia and wishes to perform again, soon as the quarantine is over.

My pets

At home, we have always had and took many cats and dogs in. My family loves animals, and it is a tradition to be sharing with them. Currently our partners are four; Chimuelo and Ginger are the cats of the house. Agnes and Tata are our dogs. All of them have come to the house because my sister, who is a veterinarian, has brought them. 

One of them is Ginger,  who has been at the house the longest, she arrived very small, just a few months old, and she is now around 5 years old. She is a very grumpy cat, and she is not very sociable, neither with humans nor with animals. Almost at the same time, Agnes came to our lives also with a few months old. At that time she was very small, smaller than a shoe. Now it is very large, when she is standing, she measures almost 1.50 meters. She is very playful and sweet. 

A few months later Chimuelo arrived. He is very shy and calm. We all love hugging him and giving him kisses, because he is very furry and soft, and fortunately he lets us do that, unlike Ginger, who rarely allows it. The last to arrive is Tata, I gave him that name because when he arrived at the house he was already old. This dog was rescued by my sister near a place where they were doing greyhound racing. Apparently, his older owners abandoned him, probably because he could no longer run like young dogs. I couldn't imagine a daily routine without being able to greet my fellow cats and dogs every morning.