There
is something about the Montreal
Guitar Show and Guitarmania (June 26-29), that
approaches perfection -- the former comprised of workshops and
mini concerts, the latter, the mini guitar festival that takes
place inside the huge
Montreal Jazz Festival.
Now
in its second year and already big enough to hold its own from
SIMM
-- the Montreal Musical Instrument Show (July 3-6) -- the Guitar
Show runs for three solid days, featuring a fabulous mix of guitars
and guitarists who convene to showcase not only their playing
and original material, but especially their love of the instrument.
If some events are designated special, the Montreal Guitar Show
is simply precious.
It
begins everyday at noon and continues until the last concert which
wraps up Round Midnight. The workshops, interviews and mini concerts
take place in the special salon wing of the Hyatt Regency (jazzfest
headquarters) where you’ll be treated to non-stop guitar
activity that includes close encounters with headline guitarists
such as Michael Taylor, the amazing Jake Shimabukuro (ukulele)
and Pierre Bensusan; and in the Grand Salon you’ll be bowled
over by masterworks from more than 100 luthiers who have come
from all over the world to display the musical equivalent of 'manna'
from heaven -- guitars to die for or go into long term debt. Youngsters
and teens attending this event will be hard pressed not to want
to take up the instrument after a few hours wandering from one
inspired salon to the next, in awe of musicians making a living
by making music.
Aside
from the music and the artfully crafted instruments that make
the notes possible, what resonates most about the Montreal Guitar
Show is the ambience the event generates. If the Montreal Jazz
Fest represents the rousing, jubilant, extroverted expression
of the city and its music, the Guitar Show is like a retreat or
sanctuary: the former is electric and volt impressive, the latter
irresistibly unplugged, and depending on the kind of day you’ve
had, its serene acoustic falls on the ear like, pace Mr. Zappa,
‘blessed relief.’ Think of the big cities in Thailand
or India, the unnerving heat and humidity, the incessant honking
of horns, the rage and roar of trucks, all of it horribly housed
under a toxic pall that affronts the ear and waters the eye. And
then you turn into one of the many exquisite temples that are
on your must see list, and just like that you have entered a new
world where the horrors of the outside world have been replaced
by the easy cadence of your breathing and the whisper of footsteps
relishing the cool of the marble floor. And the glory that is
the silence you find yourself in washes over you like scarves
of silk only the gods could have invented, and you ‘want
to travel with it and you want to travel far’ for as long
as it lasts. This best describes the marvelous effect and seduction
of the Montreal Guitar Show, which harkens back to an era when
the music you heard was the music you played.
How quickly
we hard-wired techno-junkies forget that before the Industrial
Revolution almost everyone, as a matter of course, learned, out
of dire musical necessity, how to play a musical instrument: if
you wanted to hear music you had to produce it. Today, in a world
‘too much with us’ and too much acquainted with the
musical path of least resistance whose latest attraction is the
iPod, we have largely abandoned the art of making music, the fact
of which has not been lost on the organizers of the Montreal Guitar
Show who, more than just presenting music, want to encourage as
many people as possible to try out the guitar, an instrument that
is both portable and pocket-book friendly compared to the piano
or harp.
During
the day, in salons that can accommodate no more than 100 people,
you’ll be treated to what is best about the guitar, where
the sound is small and the effects are large and possibly life
transforming. There’s no predicting what might happen during
an encounter with the beauty, civility and grace notes produced
by the guitar, whose vibe, like the butterfly, seems to travel
on wings. And it’s not nearly as complicated as it seems
or sounds. After all, as someone once observed, what is Country
& Western music but 'three chords and the truth' -–
a truth almost anyone can make his or her own.
At
the end of the day, the salon activity defers to the Guitarmania
concerts at the 5ième Salle in Place des Arts that convene
some of the most talented guitarists on the planet. Martin Taylor,
whom Pat Metheny describes as one of "the most awesome solo
guitar players in the history of the instrument" left no
doubt that Pat knows what he's talking about. Marrying an Art
Tatum feel for the fast ascent and descent with Joe Pass-like
transitional chords and the percussive and contrapuntal effects
and humour of Tommy Emmanuel, Taylor has taken finger picking
to another level. He was but one of many Guitarmania highlights
that included John Jorgenson and Jordon Officer, and from the
salons, Emmanuel Rossfelder, Alejandro Cervantes, Larry Pattis
and Michael Dunn.
So if
you're looking for some down time or safe harbour or simply temporary
respite from the big crowds the Montreal Jazz Festival generates
like no other, then taking in the Montreal Guitar Show & Guitarmania
is for you. Its organizer, Jacques-André
Dupont, is to be congratulated for not only providing
and elegantly shaping the guitar concept but identifying the need,
which from day one has found a captive and captivated audience
that continues to grow.
Report
filed by Robert J. Lewis
Photo
Credits: © Marcel Dubois
