EncyclopediaGuitarra

The guitar is a plucked chordophone.

Description of the instrument

Its soundboard usually has the shape of an eight and a mouth or hole. The fretted neck comes out of this box. The headstock is at the top end of the neck and is used to tune the instrument. Six strings are stretched the headstock and the bridge.

Way of playing

The player holds the neck with one hand and presses the strings at the frets to give the notes. With the other hand, the strings are plucked so that they vibrate and emit sound, with a pick or plectrum or with the fingers.

History

The guitar is one of the instruments of the string groups called rondallas. We can see it in the performances of the Estudiantina of Lekeitio, for example.

In many other cases, it is used to accompany the voice, being the only one that accompanies the singer, giving melody, harmony and rhythm.

There have been many guitarists, but without any doubt, the most famous in the history of our country has been José Mari Iparragirre (1820-1881). We know that he was not famous for playing the guitar, but for the songs he wrote and sang, and to play them he always used the guitar. This is how he travelled around the Basque Country and around the world. Among his songs, a well-known one was dedicated to the guitar:

Gitarra zartxo bat da neretzat laguna

honela ibiltzen da artista euskalduna

egun baten pobre beste batez jauna

kantari pasatzen det nik beti eguna.

Nowadays, many singers act in the same way that Iparragirre did, that is, performing popular songs or others with the help of the guitar.

On the other hand, in the Navarra Ribera the guitar has developed its own way of playing, especially in the jota sessions. Here, the guitarists accompany the voice in the local style, following that "free air" of the jota.

Father Donostia (1951) collected two examples from the time of the Courts of Navarra: "Among the musicians of the entourage of Don Tello, brother of King Carlos II (1349-1387), who were harp, vila and guitarists ..." and "Alonso de Peñafiel « guitar player » of the Master of Santiago (1414)" (p. 11).

In the same work we can find other passages (P. Donostia, 1951):

“At that time, at the end of the 17th century, the study of the guitar was cultivated in Donostia, according to an English traveler, who gives us the detail that for this the girls « let their nails grow so long that they acquire a strange appearance »." (37. or.)

“As a curiosity, we will also cite a composer of works for guitar from the end of the 18th century. His has been variously transcribed, due to the strangeness that some Basque s cause in ears not accustomed to our language. It is Ariscopacochaga, which some have transcribed: Aris-Paco-Chaga. He published different works for guitar in Madrid, 1797-1800. We know some of his "PASTORELAS" for guitar, existing in the archive of Mr. Joaquín de Yrízar, architect. " (45. or.)

Regarding music in 18th century Bayonese society, he says that "there were very few families in which he did not play violin, trombone and especially guitar" (p. 83).

Iñaki Irigoien (1994) also collects the following fragment: "El oasis" by Juan Mañé and Flaquer. We find it in Viajes al País de los Fueros, published in 1880. It refers to the Carmen feasts of Markina and tells us that the pilgrims dance fandango and arin with a full gut, all [...] mixed, street people and villagers, gentlemen and ordinary people, all to the same rhythm, whistle and tambourine, zarrabete, guitars and tambourines, neighs and blasts of housekeepers ... " (p. 31).

As we can see in the work of Jesús Ramos (1990), many guitarists came to the feasts of Pamplona in the 18th century. Following Felipe Pedrell and what he says in his "Technical Dictionary of Music" (1894) about the tiple (Tiple-tiple of guitar-guitar tiple, guitar or guitarrillo. Instrument that represents the acute type of the family of the guitars), we have introduced the "tiples" that appear in Ramos' text in the guitar category:

• Domingo Abaurre - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1795 - Vive en la casa de la Misericordia.
• Manuel Arlegui - Guitarra - Ozcoidi - 1796 - Ciego.
• Gregorio Arrieta - Gaita, dulzaina, guitarra - Torres del Río, Sansol.
• Joseph Bascaran (ciego) - Guitarra, violín - Eulz - 1790/Pamplona - 1792-99 - (1792-98) vivía en la Casa Misericordia.
• Andrés Beloqui (ciego) - Guitarra - Ibero - 1799.
• Pedro Berasáin - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1789.
• Manuel Bordeta - Tiple - Tudela - 1791.
• Luis de la Cadena (ciego) - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1775, 1781-86.
• Andrés Casimiro - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1799.
• Pedro Miguel de Egüés - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1791.
• Ignacio de Eugui - Pandereta, guitarra - Pamplona - 1785, 88-92.
• Pedro Miguel de Eugui - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1793-94 - Vive en la Casa de la Misericordia.
• Diego Fernández - Guitarra - Losca - 1790 - Ciego.
• Bernardo González (ciego) - Guitarra - Piedramilla - 1799.
• Ignacio Guembe - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1787 - Ciego.
• Juan Celedonio Gurria - Tiple - Isaba - 1788-89.
• Antonio Ibáñez -Tiple - Estella - 1799.
• Juan Bautista Irasmendi - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1786-87 - Ciego.
• Juan Bautista Isasmendi - Guitarra - Viana - 1788-89 - Ciego (¿serían estos dos la misma persona?)
• Antonio López - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1786.
• Tomás de Menusel - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1794 - Residente en la Casa de Misericordia (ciego).
• Juan Francisco de Miras - Guitarra - Estella - 1768.
• Juan Joseph Mugueta - Tiple - Pamplona - 1790 - Ciego.
• Agustín Munárriz (ciego) - Guitarra - Muruzábal - 1796-97/Pamplona - 1798-99.
• Bartolomé Nardi - Guitarra - Aoiz - 1791.
• Agustín de Pipaón - Guitarra - Lerín - 1770-71.
• Manuel Ruiz - Tiple - Viana - 1782, 1784.
• Agustín Sáinz - Guitarra - Lerín - 1785-88, 1791-92 - Ciego.
• Juan Pedro Santesteban - Guitarra - Pamplona - 1787, 1789.
• Juan Manuel Servino - Guitarra, tiple - Bilbao - 1774.

As we can see, many guitarists were blind. Many lived in the "Casa de Misericordia" in Pamplona and we believe that this could indicate that they belonged to a poor social level, so playing the guitar in the street would be associated with being a beggar.

SOURCES

Bibliography

DONOSTIA, Aita. (1951). Música y Músicos en el País Vasco. Biblioteca Vascongada de los Amigos del País. San Sebastián. Obras Completas del P. Donostia. Bilbo: Ed. La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca.

IRIGOIEN, Iñaki. (1994). Dultzaina-gaita Bizkaian. Bizkaiko Dultzaina-La dulzaina en Bizkaia. Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia.

PEDRELL, Felipe. (1894). Diccionario Técnico de la Música. Serv. rep. de libros, Librerías Paris-Valencia. Copia Facsimil. Valencia, 1992.

RAMOS, Jesus. (1990). Materiales para la elaboración de un censo de músicos populares de Euskal Herria, a partir de los instrumentistas llegados a Iruñea en el Siglo XVIII.Cuadernos de Etnología y Etnografía de Navarra (55. zk., 91-138). Iruñea: Institución Principe de Viana.

Discography

BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (2017). Soinu-tresnak Euskal Herri Musikan. 1985-2010. Elkar-Soinuenea Fundazioa. KD DVD-E 968.

LEKEITIOKO ESTUDIANTINA. (1983). Aratuste Alai. IZ-185.

LÓPEZ DE MUNIAIN, Balen. (2005). LOTUNEAK. Freecom. FRFO 0305.

Filmography

BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (2017). Soinu-tresnak Euskal Herri Musikan. 1985-2010. Elkar-Soinuenea Fundazioa. KD DVD-E 968.