As a child Gustavo Pazos Conde received his first guitar lessons from an old teacher in El Cordón, a Montevideo neighbourhood. It was he who helped him make a transition, within a few years, from the classical guitar to the traditional gaucho rhythms of milonga, vidalita and estilo.

guitar music from uruguay

On his two previous cd’s with guitar music from Uruguay, Gustavo defines his guitar as the expression of a world of emotions and landscapes. This new musical work follows the same path and once again converges past and present through his vision of several musical traditions of the Gaucho. Gaucho tradition is not limited to Uruguay but it also extend to Argentina. Besides his own work, the cd aIso includes two composers from Argentina closely related to Gustavo’s musical world: the guitar player Ernesto Snajer and the bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi. Finally a Peruvian yaraví is included, the mestizo version of the pre-Columbian jarawi or harawi (lyrical love songs). The Yaraví is the source of several musical forms of the Gaucho traditions like the triste and the estilo, therefore very linked to Argentina and Uruguay. That is the reason one yaraví is included, for its beauty and because of the respect Gustavo has for the Peruvian guitar tradition.

short biogragphy

The unique guitar styles taught by his El Cordón, let their musical mark on him for good, aided by his life experiences from early childhood and adolescence in the countryside of Tacuarembó, in the heart of Uruguay. Years later, he receives a more academic training. But his true professional school occurs onstage. He had already started performing in public at the age of 19 playing in groups, solo and in several cases accompanying traditional music singers. It was during this time that he created his first songs, wich were released in different recordings. His first instrumental cd, “Papas Calientes” (Pan Records), appeared in 1998, with Dutch classical guitarist Esther Steenbergen with own works for two guitars, and later the solo cd’s “Caraguatá” and ” Estación Edén” (Saphrane) were released.

international reviews

“Die leisen Tönen überwiegen, vieles mütet frei improvisiert an. Ein Landschaftsmaler erster Güte” (Folker – D)

“Ein ruhiges, stimmungsvolles Album mit wunderbar zarten und träumerischen Melodien und tief-emotionalen fast schon meditativen Songs.” (Hören und Fühlen – D)

discography

• Caraguata. Guitar Works from Uruguay (Saphrane S62614, 2012)
• Estacion Eden. Guitar Works from Uruguay II (Saphrane S62617, 2016)