| Eliodoro
Aguilera, would pass unnoticed as a name if it were not for the
fact that he owns one of Mangore's guitars. Eliodoro's mom, 100 years
old God bless him, bought the guitar from Mangoré. He paid 800 pesos
for it (as Eliodoro put it: "you could buy a cow for that kind of money
...")
He bough it from Mangoré the day after a recital the Paraguayan
master gave at the Luque Church (Luque is a neighboring city of Asunción).
This is the picture I took at the Andres Marin guitar at Mr. Aguilera's
home. (Nov/25/2002)...
SURVIVING
BARRIOS MANGORÉ GUITAR, Asuncion-PARAGUAY
Mr. Aguilera is an energetic 100
years old with an iron memory and agile body and a huge passion for soccer.
His only material possession was this jewel. When he brought it
out from his bedroom (he keeps
her in a closet) his eyes started
filling with tears as he started going back in the years. He has been offered
different sums of money for the instrument but as he so simply put it "what
am I going to do with the money??" The craftsmanship on the
guitar is simply astonishing. I was taken back in time with my imagination
and I could see Barrios playing and composing with it. It was like a flashback.
At the same time Mr. Aguilera told us of the serenades he would take to
his sweethearts with the "magical guitar"... I played a single note on
the Marin. I did not want to tune it since the strings are oooold and the
guitar needs some restoring.
The story goes like this: After the
Luque
Cathedral recital, 18 years old Eliodoro approached Barrios, who was
standing outside the Luque Cathedral looking at the people coming and going,
and after a brief introduction, told Mangoré that he wanted to learn
how to play the guitar and was desperately looking for a good instrument.
Barrios told him "I can sell you one of my guitars since I bought a new
one in Spain a few weeks ago*...I will wait for you at this address tomorrow...(his
brother's home in downtown Asuncion)" . Mr. Aguilera's mom gave him the
money and the rest is history...
Jorge, Mr. Aguilera's grandson and
one of my students, took me to his grandfather's house, picture above,
to see the guitar. Jorge brought the guitar to my house a few days later
saying that his grandpa was going to rest in peace knowing that
his most loved material possession was in my hands. I promised I would
have the guitar restored so as to be able to play her again which I did.
The guitar is back in the studio since yesterday, May 3 2005.
*This quoting is not literal,
nor is the sequence of facts. The guitar may have been bought by Barrios
in South America. "
-
For mangore.com 10th anniversary (2007),
My luthiers and I decided to give this beauty a total makeover. After 2
months of work, she made her debut again today June 23rd 2007. We made
her a playable concert instrument. We rectified the fingerboard,
changed the frets and tuning machines, sanded her and got her covered in
hand applied lacquer. I played La Catedral on her and she is back for another
150 years !
FULLY RESTORED BARRIOS' GUITAR
Fully restored Barrios' guitar (Bellucci
private collection)
I can hardly describe the mixture
of feelings and shivers that I get every time I play her. I play La
Catedral and tears start filling my eyes knowing that the Paraguayan
master probably played the piece or even composed it on this legendary
instrument.
A few months ago (February 2008)
this babe posed for the new 50,000 Guaranies bill. She's depicted on one
side and the Paraguayan master is depicted on the other side. She is a
part of Paraguayna and world music history ! Eliodoro's generosity will
go down in history with his beloved guitar. |
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