Biography

Gustavo Pazos, born in Uruguay, came into contact with the guitar when he was a child and they have been inseparable ever since. He had his first classes from an old teacher in Montevideo, who helped him making the transition from classical guitar to the traditional gaucho guitar of the milonga, vidalita and estilo.

Later he studied with the Uruguayan guitarist Magdalena Jimeno of NEMUS (Núcleo de Educación Musical Institute) and attended the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam for several years. In the eighties he recorded three albums: El Retorno
(1983), Vida y Oficios (1984) and Aparceros (1988). His first instrumental cd with works for
two guitars he recorded in The Netherlands, together with the Dutch classical guitarist Esther Steenbergen (Papas Calientes, 1998). In recent years he is concentrating more and more on composing music.

Gustavo Pazos is not set on a faithful reflection of the Río de la Plata musical traditions, but plays his own interpretation of the musical sources important to him as a Uruguayan. These sources are very divers: the gaucho master Osiris Rodriguez Castillo, Atahualpa Yupanqui, the anonymous street drummers of Montevideo, the bandoneón landscapes of Dino Saluzzi, but J. S. Bach too, to mention just a few.

Gustavo used to work as a radio producer for the Dutch national radio until 2010. He made several documentaries for the radio and was involved in many productions as artistic director.

Gustavo has released three albums on Saphrane Records: Caraguatá, Estación Edén, Rincon de las Penas

Publicity photo (c) Ron Beenen