Happy New Year! From Santa Barbara Guitar Collective and GuitarWitt

Photography by Kelsey Crews Photo

It was a great year, rich in music for us. SBGC would like to share some of our music with you and wish you a happy new year! Check out our recording of the great Agustín Barrios Mangoré's Leccion via the above audio player (click play!). Thanks to all our fans and supporters for an amazing year. We are now booking for 2016 and look forward to giving many stellar performances in a variety of awesome guitar styles. You can check out our ongoing repertoire list on GuitarWitt's new web page:  http://guitarwitt.com/repertoire-wedding-and-events/

We look forward to continuing to offer among the highest quality guitar based, in any format, in the Santa Barbara - So Cal - Central Coast Area.  To a musical year ahead!

Santa Barbara Guitar Trio Performs Chan Chan at Montecito Party

We are happy to be playing more and more performances this year. At a private party in Montecito, we display our fun, energetic - instrumental guitar trio rendition based on the Buena Vista Club's exotic, trance induced signature track Chan Chan.  "Chan Chan" is a 1987 son composition by Cuban trovador Compay Segundo. In the late 1990s, it became the signature track of the Buena Vista Social Club project.[1] The lyrics of the song revolve around two central characters called Juanica and Chan Chan. 

On the composition of the song, Company Segundo said:

I didn't compose Chan Chan, I dreamt it. I dream of music. I sometimes wake up with a melody in my head, I hear the instruments, all very clear. I look over the balcony and I see nobody, but I hear it as if it was played on the street. I don't know what it can be. One day I woke up hearing those four sensitive notes, I gave them a lyric inspired by a children's tale from my childhood, Juanica y Chan Chan, and you see, now it's sung everywhere.

The most complete explanation[4] says: 'The song relates the story of a man and a woman (Chan Chan and Juanica) who are building a house, and go to the beach to get some sand. Chan Chan collects the sand and puts it on the jibe (a sieve for sand). Juanica shakes it, and to do so she shakes herself, making Chan Chan aroused. [...] The origin of this tale is a farmer song learnt by Compay Segundo when he was twelve years old.' (Wikipedia References included in this blog post)

Student Guitar Recitals Group Performance Santa Barbara

Guitar Instructors Robert Seeley and Michael Witt lead a student ensemble performance of the traditional "Mi Caballo Blanco" at their recent Fall Student Guitar Recital. Time Lapse art included, produced by GuitarWitt.

Robert Seeley and Mike Witt Perform Ferdinando Carulli and Agustin Barrios Mangore's Allegretto

Santa Barbara Guitar Instructors Robert Seeley and Mike Witt's Classical Guitar Performance of Ferdinando Carulli and Agustin Barrios Mangore's Allegretto Duet at their students' June 2013 Guitar Recital Performances.

Robert Seeley's Guitar Website