Liner Notes:
The Classical Guitars of Los Indios Tabajaras
Produced by Herman Diaz, Jr.
SIDE A
Valse in A Minor, Op. 34. No. 2 (Chopin) 4:46
Für Elise (Bagatelle in A Minor) (Beethoven) 3:03
Recuerdos de Ia Alhambra
Hora Staccato (Dinicu-Heifetz) 2:07
SIDE B
Valse in A-Fiat, Op. 69, No. 1 (Chopin) 3:40
La Ronde des Lutins (Antonio Bazzini) 6:50
Serenata Española (Joaquim Malats) 2:56
Romance de Amor (Vincente Gomez) 1:55
Los Indios Tabajaras:
“Innovators with the Souls of True Musicians”
“Classical guitar” may be a relatively new phenomenon in the history of this very folksy, very popular, very romantic instrument. But there are two old hands who have breathed even newer life into it.
The famous pair: Los Indios Tabajaras, two Brazilian brothers who once knew nothing about classical music and who, in fact, had to make sure their first guitar - an abandoned one they found near home on a jungle path - was not a strange weapon. It wasn’t long before they figured out what it was. Magic in their hands.
Like many a great guitarist, Natalicio and Antenor Lima are self-taught (there were few music professors in the rain forest). But they didn’t stop with simply learning to conquer their new-found strings. Nor did they stop with their own country’s music. Nato and Tenor knew there was a world out there. They knew there was music in it. And they set out to find it, first on foot and then through sheer determination.
It was on to Mexico , on to Europe , and on to the discovery of Western music. And to the discovery of the kind of dedication that has made Los Indios Tabajaras unique in today’s music world.
They heard piano music, and they decided to fashion the kind of guitar that could play all the notes a piano could play - even though they had to build it themselves. They heard classical music, they felt its pulse, and it wasn’t long before Chopin, Beethoven and the great Latin and Romantic composers were a favorite part of their astonishing and always growing repertoire.
Like their repertoire, Los Indios Tabajaras keep growing. From Mexico to Japan to Paris to the renowned Amsterdam Concert-gebouw Orchestra to New York
Nowhere, does their genius prove itself more beautifully than in their treatment of the classics. You’ll hear it in the majestic precision or Chopin’s waltzes and be amazed that it took only two great guitarists to create the majesty. In the fantasy flight of Beethoven’s Bagatelle in A Minor. In the quiet fires of Serenata Española and Hora Staccato. And in every mood gentled by the guitars of Los Indios Tabajaras.
Los Indios Tabajaras have discovered the world and mastered its music in every delicious variety.
If you haven’t yet discovered Los Indios Tabajaras, do it now. And let them take you to wonderful places where the guitar has never sung so proudly.
Nancy Lawrence
Recorded in RCA’s Studio “B” and “C,” New York City, 1974
Recording Engineer: Ed Begley
Photographer: David B. Hecht
Art Director: Acy Lehman
