The Bridge Review

On a balmy evening in May, Gairloch Hall was alive with the exciting sounds of Cuban music. Two of that country’s foremost guitarist have joined forces to present The Bridge, a musical and spiritual journey full of the rhythms of their country.

Their first piece Sounds and Flowers was an inspired mix of salsa rhythms and jazz, followed by Acrylics in the Smile and Acrylics in Space based on finding the connective tissue between the different genres of Cuban, Flamenco, Baroque and New Age.

We were then treated to the Havana Suite a four-movement work evoking their capital city. The duo then each performed 3 guitar solos of their own from Album of Innocence (Eduardo) and Songs of the Calendar (Ahmed).

They concluded the first half of their performance with Deep Waters, written in Argentina for a thriving movement of musicians who would meet to improvise. This began as a short eight bar piece of music that the musicians could then improvise on top and was later developed into a complete work to show how simple music can be expanded by the addition of different layers.

The second half of their concert began with a Cuban Rumba called “Even Alicia Dances”, written by Eduardo and dedicated to Alicia, a classical pianist, in the hope it might make her a convert to the dance! Then came Remembering Piazzola, an homage to the Argentinian Tango composer and this was followed by Prelude, Prayer and Chant to Obatalà, using the guitar to create the drumming rhythms used in rituals of the Yoruba religion and developing the music into modern day new-age, funk and jazz.

The audience’s rapturous applause brought this talented pair back to the stage for an encore, Looking at You, a very moving piece written by Eduardo and dedicated to his young son. The inspiration for the piece came when Eduardo was watching his young son playing in the garden, so taken was he with the image of youthful spirit in nature that he dashed back to his studio to work on the piece which brought to an end an enchanting evening of virtuoso music.