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Monday, August 16, 2010

Digno Garcia

Digno Garcia
y su trio del Paraguay
Canciones De America Latina
Philips 1954(?)

10 inch 33 1/3. This record is outside of what I collect. But I post it because I can't find an image of this album cover online and thought Garcia enthusiasts might find it interesting.

Digno Garcia was born in the city of Luque, Paraguay in September 22, 1919. He started playing the guitar at a very young age. By twelve years old he was already a very proficient guitar player without having any formal musical instruction. Soon after, he also thought himself how to play the Paraguayan Harp (Arpa Paraguaya).

When he first began playing the harp he was part of various music groups. He played with other accomplished Paraguayan harpists such as Tito Fernandez, Ignacio Melgarejo, Demetrio Ortiz. He then became part of the well known group, Guaireno de Gumercindo Ayala Aquino. As part of this new group, he toured throughout Latin America for the first time.

In 1942 he formed the trio, Los Paraguayos, which also included Augustin Barboza and Luis Alberto del Parana.

In 1944 he created his first composition Cascada, inspired by the time he spent admiring a waterfall in the town of Chololo Paraguay. This composition later became a standard piece for all Paraguayan harpists.

By 1954 the Paraguayan government decided to sponsor the trio as a sort of cultural representative of Paraguayan folkloric music to Europe.

When this mission was over, Digno Garcia formed yet another trio, this time called, Digno Garcia y sus Carios. With this group he began recording what would be a long series of albums. They played traditional Paraguayan folkloric pieces, as well as many compositions by Digno. Many of the albums that followed went on to be marketed and sold not only throughout Paraguay, but in more then fifteen other countries.

Digno played in over forty five countries. In 1962 he moved to Belgium. Some of his most prominent fans included King Baudouin I of Belgium and the Spanish artist Salvador Dali.

He received many honours and awards at home and abroad. In his hometown he was presented a gold medal naming him a Distinguished Son of the City of Luque. And in Barcelona he received a trophy from a Spanish recoding company (Belter) for his composition Costa Brava.

After recording 8 albums, of all which included numerous original compositions, Digno Garcia died in 1984 in Belgium.

1 comment:

  1. I adore this and am blown away that it is a 10" LP!! I want it. Exotica from the source. FAB!

    ReplyDelete

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