| « Review: Anberlin, Bottom Lounge 3/14 | Preview: 2013 CHIRP Record Fair » |
Contest Mon Mar 18 2013
Preview and a Contest: Las Guitarras de España @ City Winery, 3/21
Chicago's pan-Hispanic music and dance collective, Las Guitarras de España, performs at City Winery this Thursday with special guests Los Hombres Perdidos.
Guitarist Carlo Basile founded Las Guitarras de España over 12 years ago, after completing a masters degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Northeastern Illinois University and traveling the world performing and teaching. Since then, Las Guitarras de España has become one of Chicago's premier world music ensembles, releasing five sonically globe-trotting albums each anchored in part by the virtuosic playing of Basile's globally-influnced Spanish-style guitar.
As a description of the group's music, however, "Guitars of Spain" does little more than merely name the primary instrument used. Over five albums, Las Guitarras de España have followed no strict genre guidelines. The group's most recent studio album, Tantas Cosas, features loose, stretched-out compositions limited by nothing more than the broad category of Spanish-guitar-influenced music with Spanish-language vocals. Beyond that, the compositions are dynamic and accessible, defying any sense of pretension or stuffiness that often overcomes other types of world music.
Such is the intention, most likely, as Las Guitarras de España continues to innovate on top of previously released music. The group's show at City Winery this Thursday will feature a new focus on "Indo-flamenco" sounds — which, according to Basile, stems from a recent visit to India and Senegal.
Listen to Basile and other members of Las Guitarras de España discuss the new sound in a recent performance and interview on WBEZ's Afternoon Shift below:
And you can go see Las Guitarras de España for free with a friend. Just email us at contests@gapersblock.com with the subject line "Guitar" and you could win a pair of tickets to the show on Thursday night. We'll pick a winner by 4pm today. [Update: We have our winner! Congrats to Cindy!]
Las Guitarras de España performs at City Winery this Thursday, March 21, along with collaborators Los Hombres Perdidos, whose own music offers a Spanish-language counterpart to frontman Colin Bunn's former old-timey jazz band, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire. Tickets range from $15 to $20. Doors open at 6pm, and the show begins at 8pm. City Winery is located at 1200 W. Randolph St. This show is all ages.
