Happy Birthday, Agustín Barrios! 
This week, we celebrate the remarkable life and enduring legacy of Agustín Barrios Mangoré, born on May 5, 1885. Known as one of the preeminent figures in the classical guitar world, Barrios not only elevated the guitar on the concert stage but also enriched the repertoire with compositions that blend technical prowess with deep emotional resonance.
What are your favorite pieces by Barrios? Share your favorite YouTube videos of Barrios here!
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Here are some of my choices:
- Medallón Antiguo performed by Marco Caiazza - From what I understand, with this piece Barrios was trying to imitate the compositions of the Spanish vihuela masters of the Renaissance period. I worked on this piece for a while during one of the community challenges, and I can attest to its difficulty, despite sounding less difficult than many of Barrios’ more famous pieces. Outstanding performance by Caiazza.
- País de Abanico performed by Berta Rojas – In my opinion, Rojas’ interpretations of Barrios are simply the best. I particularly love this expressive performance.
- Luz Mala performed by W. Lendle – The recording quality here may not be great, but the performance certainly is. That vibrato! I think this showpiece deserves to be played much more.
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La Catedral by Tal Hurwitz
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Barrios is turning out to be my favourite, displacing Tarrega from the top of my list. So, my favourites are
Julia Florida
La Cathedral by Thomas Viloteau
Prelude in C minor
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Hey everyone – excited to see what Barrios works you all love and discover some new music!
I just wanted to pop in and share that Jakob Schmidt, a fantastic guitarist and our YouTube creator, just posted an amazing video on Barrios and his life that you might be interested in checking out. Cheers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbf-YIdM7fM-
Chris wow, this is mind blowingly great, so informative and insightful. Thank you Chris and Jakob. While growing up, I idolized Kurt Cobain and later on, musicians like Nick Drake, people who flirted with musical boundaries but still remained true to their musical ideas.
In a similar way, I've come to idolize Mangore, and for what he represented, a sort of outsider outsider, a resonant voice from the margins, but whose music has the universality of humanity and its accompanying range of emotions and thoughts. I should add that listening to La Catedral is almost like a mystical and philosophical experience for me. Hopefully, I'll be able to play some of his compositions.
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Chris Really nice video about Barrios's influence and history. Thank you very much to tonebase team!
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Chris this was well worth watching, a fascinating summary of the emergence of a priceless guitar repertoire that could just as easily have passed us by. Over the years I must have spent a good third of my time working just on various Barrios pieces.
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One of my favorite pieces is Un sueno la floresta
