Alexandra Whittingham and Sönke Meinen can thank their dear old dads for turning them onto playing guitar.
If there’s an instrument laying around the house most kids will naturally pick it up and noodle around no matter what sound that comes out. For Whittingham and Meinen, it was that childish exploration that laid a musical path, a path that led the two to a world of guitar playing of the classical and experimental realm. This is not three-chord strumming or banging out classic rock, but advanced playing with the utmost technical proficiency, the kind of playing that will make any fan of the guitar watch and listen in wonder. Simply put, they rip.
If you go
WHAT: International Guitar Night XXV with Lulo Reinhardt, Alexandra Whittingham, Niwel Tsumbu and Sönke Meinen.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $26/$45.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.durangoconcerts.com.
Whittingham and Meinen will be in Durango on Feb. 26, performing at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College as part of 25th Anniversary Tour of International Guitar Night, an annual North American outing that features four guitar players performing in a number of configurations. Playing alongside Whittingham and Meinen are Lulo Reinhardt and Niwel Tsumbu.
For both, it was dad who showed them the instrument, ultimately pushing them into lessons.
“He always had a lot of guitars lying around that house and he’s sort of self-taught,” Whittingham said. “And then I started having lessons. When I walked into one of my lessons, my teacher was playing some sort of Spanish piece, and that’s when I wanted to start playing classical.”
“My dad showed me my first chords and then I was lucky with having a really good guitar teacher,” Meinen said. “He was a great classical player but also a jazz piano player, so he was open to all kinds of music. That was really important for me because I started taking music serious and wanting to become a professional when I got into composing and being creative. He planted that in me with showing me what’s possible on this instrument.”
For these four, what’s possible is an endless display of sounds. The England-born Whittingham is a classical player whose guitar sound is full, delicate and lush.
The German-born Meinen’s sound is clean, heavy and percussive. The Congolese-born, Ireland-based Niwel Tsumbu is also a heavy, percussive player, his sound quite raw; and Reinhardt (grandnephew of Django), also German born, comes from a family of players: He’ll dig into Latin-swing sounds while also remaining ambient, aggressive and experimental.
The bill is a showcase of guitar players who, while quite different, have their sounds blend into a worldly cocktail of guitar theatrics. The first half of the show will feature each individual guitar player performing solo, while the second half will have the players coming together as duos, trios or a quartet; the number of configurations results in a collection of practiced pieces ad improvisation. This is not music from the tree of low-hanging tunes, but advanced playing from musicians with advanced skill on full display.
That display of skills is also not only for the audience, but for the performers. Before this tour, these musicians didn’t know each other personally, they only knew each other through watching them play on the internet. So while playing together they are musical partners, but when one is playing solo the other three are simply fans. Each finds joy in playing together, while also finding joy in watching their tour partners play individually.
“Whenever anybody’s doing their solo set, the rest of us have been literally right at the side of the stage, just watching, which has been really nice because its one thing seeing how people play online but seeing them play live is a completely different thing,” Whittingham said. “And getting to play with them is even better.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
