PERFORMANCES
Ziggy and Miles play the premiere recording of Trin Warren Tam-boore by Ken Murray from their latest album, Sidekick.
"The piece reflects the joy I have felt at visiting the Trin Warren Tam-boore wetlands on the north-western edge of Royal Park in Melbourne over the past few years. During the lockdowns of 2020/21 residents were restricted to a five-kilometre zone for travel and Trin Warren was just within my range. It’s a great example of urban design where stormwater is treated, and native birds are attracted by rich variety of plant and animal life. The name was given by the Wurundjeri people, the indigenous custodians of the Melbourne area, and means Bellbird Waterhole."
Movement 2 of Loop Sonata.
LUCKY STRIKE
Lucky Strike was named after a close shave with a bolt of lightning. The guitaristic opening motif came first and the rest of the piece grew from this material.
RECIFE dos corais
Recife dos Corais refers to the coral reef that lies off the northeast coast of Brazil, a natural treasure much like the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast of Australia.
PINOTE
Pinote is a reference to a common scene in southern rural Brazil where rodeos take place, pinote being the horse's buck to dislodge its rider. Ken is playing here with Doug de Vries.
la petenera no ha muerto
A piece written by the Granadine flamenco guitarist and composer Angel Barrios (1882 - 1964), played by Ken Murray. Angel was a close friend to Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz.
LAGARTIXA
"Lagartixa" is a moto perpetual choro taken from the suite 'Introduced Species' played and composed by Ken Murray. Tribute to the Brazilian guitar master Doug de Vries. Ken plays a cedar top Altamira N300 in this performance.
TREMOLO TECHNIQUE
Some great tips by Ken Murray on how to practice the tremolo technique on the guitar. Pdf available here: https://www.altamiraguitars.com.au/pdf
COMPOSITIONS
MORNING BELLS
Morning Bells. After years of playing Regino Sainz de la Maza’s Campanas del Alba [Bells at Dawn] I wanted to write my own tremolo piece. To avoid the usual keys of A and E minor, I took some inspiration from a song by the English band Radiohead who wrote a song [Go to Sleep] based around a moveable G chord sonority. They also have a song titled Morning Bell, recorded first on the album Kid A (2000) and again in a different version on their next album Amnesiac (2001)
LANDSCAPES OF SANTO TIRSO
Landscapes of Santo Tirso was commissioned by Oscar Flecha and the Santo Tirso Guitar Festival in 2006 and inspired by the beautiful scenery and architecture of the Santo Tirso region. It is an area rich in history and home to a wonderful guitar festival that Oscar has directed every year since 1994. This piece is based on a Portuguese melody recorded by the Portuguese guitar virtuoso Carlos Paredes which appears at the end of the work.
Ken Murray is a leading ambassador for Altamira guitars and is a regular at Altamira's international guitar festivals and competitions.