The Spirit of Argentina inspires Julian’s classical guitar and songs

What a treat it was to see and hear Julian Santillan, a visiting Argentinian classical guitarist with local roots in the Stagnetto family, bridge the culture gap between the Pampas and La Calle Comedia at El Kasbah last week. I had long yearned to attend such an intimate guitar concert u in this chic venue and this one was like pennies from heaven.

I am a long-time fan of Latin American poetry and music and, thanks to podcaster Michelle ‘Rouge’ Ruggeroni who organised this event, and is related to Julian, we were able to enjoy an hour’s worth of music and song with a wealth of cultural insights from this gifted composer, who was clearly impressed with his first visit to the Rock and his family.

In her introduction, Michelle told us that Julian hails from Tucuman in Argentina and is a composer and guitarist who blends folk, jazz and rock with national and regional rhythms. He is a Berkeley graduate and tours extensively, having flown into Spain from Bucharest and is next flying to Barcelona. He sometimes leads a trio and a sextet but tours as a solo performer - so he was able to use Gibraltar as a stopping point in his current tour.

He started his recital introducing an instrumental lullaby which he wrote for his son. He chose to speak English and has a witty charm about him.

His second piece was inspired by his house, Casa Amarilla, in the mountains and featured rhythms from the north of Argentina.

Introducing his third offering, Americano Soy, he told us about the Argentinian drink mate and he sung about being a true American and not stirring mate with a straw, something which distinguishes south American patriots from North American settlers, not true Americans he told us.

Julian then spoke about tangos and his composition, El Tangero, was about a poor mountain man who knew a lot about tangos from listening only, as had never been to Buenos Aires. His eloquent guitar spoke tango as you might imagine it, stripped back to bare bones and a mournful melody drawing you into the national musical treasure of Argentina.

Another composition followed which was called La Fuente Magica, he dedicated this to his son. Its tempo he described as rasgueado doble (a guitar accompaniment pattern) and he said it also recalled Barcelona for him, a city where he had lived and where his second son was born.

Lockdown made him, like most of us, a prisoner, but it inspired a compositional topic for him. He had been a prisoner of his thoughts with nowhere to go.

El Preso explored the triunfo rhythm of the Pampas and his vocal and guitar interplays were profound.

Parada was a composition about a couple which he thought were breaking up during a bus ride he was on. Again, the vocabulary between guitar and his vocal melancholic lines, shared the romantic spirit of a great nation.

Estante (shelf) was his next tune. Its complex, jagged and rhythmic lines, counter pointed by arpeggios in the higher guitar register showed skill and dexterity.

Other notable compositions were Campo de Apachetas (stone structures), dedicated to his mountain neighbour and its title was inspired by his father while on a horse ride. He told us that it was a zamba (not to be confused with Brazilian samba), a lament in unmistakeable Argentinian musical fashion. This had for me, echoes of Alfonsina y El Mar, a renowned classical guitar piece about a famous poet who drowned herself. A lyrical and mournful melody which hypnotises with its beauty this was engaging music to enjoy in intimate surroundings.

El Sentinela de Piedra was inspired by Julian’s own epic climb to the summit of Aconcagua, a 7000-metre mountain and one of the world’s tallest.

He then followed up with a poem from Garcia Lorca titled Al oido de Una Muchacha, which inspired him to put music and rhythm in an up-tempo and jazzy piece which was well appreciated.

After this one, he thanked his family present and the appreciative Kasbah audience, for what he thought was the privilege of performing here on the Rock.

His last offering was a complex and insightful piece inspired by a giant marigold sculpture in Buenos Aires, which was damaged by high winds when one of its petals broke off. Margarita Inpar is a play on love me, love me not, where the composer wishes for a better world by dreaming of a re-designed marigold with fewer petals- only the ‘love me’ ones. What a profound thought-from a gifted pacifist, of course.

It was a lovely cultural and musical evening with a charming and guitarist-singer and composer who, I daresay, will return to this venue for another Stagnetto family reunion and concert, a very welcome bridging of cultures which are different to our own.

We need events like this to happen more often because this was an enriching experience.

Well done, Julian Santillan, we enjoyed your music and Rouge - you became a concert empresario for a day and succeeded in spade-loads.

Thank you Stephen and Lauren for hosting culture at your beautiful venue.