Music
Richard Durrant: The No. 26 Bus to Paraguay
Standard: £18
Richard Durrant’s regular visits to this fascinating and magical part of South America have earned him accolades and awards whilst his concerts and trilogy of Paraguayan albums have uncovered the richness of guitar music being written in the region today. He is now widely recognised as one of the world’s leading interpreters of the music of Agustín Barrios.
In this entertaining and colourful concert Durrant explores the mysteries of La Ruta Mangoreana, uncovering the beauty of Paraguayan music and sharing stories from the central southern cone of South America. He also explains how all this began for him on a number 26 Brighton corporation bus.
Matt Holland, Director, Swindon Festival of Literature
“Paraguay can be paradisal and its music heavenly. In his stories and his playing, Richard Durrant conveys both. How a boy from Brighton discovered the music of Barrios and made it to the Royal Albert Hall, via a number 26 bus and the Royal College of Music, is a riveting riverboat ride of a story. He told it and played it at our Festival. We loved his virtuoso playing, his terrific telling, and him!”
Sr M. Solano-Lopez, Paraguayan Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2011)
“The Embassy of Paraguay is more than just proud, it is highly honoured to sponsor this series of concerts by master guitarist Richard Durrant.”
Rico Stover. Barrios biographer and ethnomusicologist
“The public acclaimed him not only because he presented an all-Barrios program…but because of his passion and tenderness, qualities that he communicates through his magnificent playing of the classic guitar.”
Carlos Salcedo Author of ‘El Inalcanzable’ and authority on the life of Barrios
“I have never heard anything like it. Durrant seems to be having fun with each measure, with each phrase and passage, each different, each delicate.”
