About Guillermo Cides
Critics and comments


MUSICIAN´S COMMENTS

 

JOHN WETTON (ASIA, UK, KING CRIMSON)
"Cides has the talent and I feel that prog/melodic fans everywhere will love his music..."


TREY GUNN (KING CRIMSON)
"The best Stick player I ever saw in my life was in Argentina: Guillermo Cides..."
(Radio g, Buenos Aires, 199g)

EMMETT CHAPMAN
"You has brought out the 'ideal' human performance that I had in mind when first designing the instrument. I must say that your music and total artistic concept stands out and strikes me as exceptionally creative, original and well executed..." (Letter to Cides, 1995 )

El Mundo Interior de Los Planetas CD Review by Emmett Chapman
Guillermo's romantic and passionate approach to music and The Stick shows through in everything from the title (translated "the interior world of the planets" is an Argentinean espression referring to the inner workings of the soul) to its elaborate artwork, to the beautiful music within. This album explores a very wide range of Stick sounds both clean and heavily processed (Guillermo is not afraid to crank up the distortion when he wants to). There are sharp attacks and volume swells, layered to the best musical effect. All the music and sounds were created with The Stick, with the exception of a drummer on two songs. Guillermo covers a spectrum of musical styles and plays each with authority. Primitivo CD Review by Emmett Chapman is a synthesis of ancient and futuristic musical cultures all bearing the imprint of a single artist's style. The compositions are forceful and graphically clear. The Stick is presented with great sonic diversity by way of some complex and interesting audio signal processing. The musical sources as I hear them include ancient Argentine, classical Spanish, Baroque and modern day King Crimson (complete with tape looking techniques in the recording production). The Stick is multi-faceted on this album, as a primitive and somewhat atonal instrument, as a rhythmic driving force, and as an almost acoustical instrument in the pristine high melodic range. Guillermo has masterfully used The Stick to reveal several levels of his personality as an artist, from the primitive to the advanced technological and with plenty of the Latin temperament thrown in.

GREG HOWARD
STICKNEWS DIGEST ISSUE #023 (INTERNET)
Subject: Guillermo Cides.
From: Greg Howard
Date: 11/02/98
"Guillermo Cides, who is on tour from Argentina, is playing a concert in St Louis (see Stick Events) on the 5th, and will then be flying to Dallas to join in the Stick Seminar there and the Stick Night on the 8th. If you are near St. Louis or Dallas, please don't miss the opportunity to see Guillermo perform, he's certainly one of the best players on the planet, and doesn't get to the States often. Happy Tapping,
Greg Howard"

INTERVIEW TO CARRIE MELBOURNE ON SPACEWALKER
Date: 27-05-2000
"You have played with great stick players such as Jim Lampi and Guillermo Cides(…) What do you think of these Stick players?
C. M.: -Well, Jim is reckoned by many stick players to be the best in the world, he was taught by Emmett, and has developed an acoustic style of playing the instrument which was completely ground-breaking and unique - and sexy! -check out his playing on his Young Lions CD. Guillermo is one of Emmett's favourite players, mine too! He plays in a very flamboyant very Spanish influenced style, rather like a Spanish guitar player, and his use of sounds and effects is quite amazing, very powerful, and reminiscent in places of Robert Fripp's Soundscapes. So between the two of them, they have much of the Chapman stick technique at their fingertips!-.

 

MAGAZINE´S COMMENTS

PROGRESSION MAGAZINE (U.S.A.)
EL MUNDO INTERIOR … CD review by Jhon Collinge - Spring/95
"This all-instrumental disc by Argentinian Stick Maestro Guillermo Cides levels him to the recent work of his better-known contemporaries Tony Levin and Trey Gunn. His courage pay off, in a work that is equal parts passion and technical brilliance..."

PRIMITIVO CD Review by John Collinge - Spring/Summer 99
"This Argentinian Stick player is simply incredible. The way he creates bright sound layers via electronic looping and chime-y, multi-octave plucking, places him in the realm of one-man orchestra. And on Primitivo, he expands the palette exponentially with occasional accompaniment by the Caturga Percussion Group, a tabla/gamelan player, a flute player, vocalist, and on one track a six-member Stick ensemble. Primitivo is an exotic musical juncture where progressive, world music, classical, ambient and jazz converge. Irresistible stuff! I just wish it was twice as long.EXPOSÉ MAGAZINE (U.S.A.)
Primitivo CD Review by Mike Ezzo - 1998
"Sounds like Mr. Cides had quite a bit of fun recording this (his second) disc. On "Primitivo," the Argentina native explores the many facets of the Chapman Stick's capabilities and in so doing moves quite beyond what our heroes in Crimson have done. But the connection is nevertheless present. You've got material that echoes Sylvian and Fripp's last album, alongside a reading of a Bach passacaglia, in which the Stick becomes a harpsichord. Some funky rock moments (with vocal)and spacey workouts collide into the picture as well. Here he gets support from a tabla player. On top of that are some melancholy moments, contrasted by a wild outing featuring bizarre howling and a multitude of overlapped layers of interlocking melodic lines. Yes, an eclectic one to be sure, and a fusion of sorts, but not necessarily of rock and jazz. On the other hand it does focus primarily on the instrumental side of things. For his arsenal of sounds Cides probably uses the MIDI Stick, or at least the effects module 'Patch of Shades' that Emmett Chapman developed for his creation. It allows the player to fade effects in and out gradually, rather than just on and off. (I'll never forget a personal demonstration from Mr. Chapman I witnessed at his home many years ago .... ) Whatever the case it serves the project well-a veritable whole band is at the hands of the performer. If there is one gripe though it would be that Cides takes advantage of this convenience by assuming too much of the responsibility himself. Thus, I'm not quite sure who to recommend this CD too, but still it's worth checking into."

WOUNDROUS STORIES MAGAZINE. (UK)
"El Mundo Interior…" Review -
"In the concert; the little Argentinian was amazing and demonstrated remarkable ability with this still quite rare instrument. This CD contains a certain magic that is difficult to describe but I just know you'll love it..."

KEEP'N TOUCH MAGAZINE. (CALIFORNIA, USA)
by GREG hOWARD
"This is one of my favorite stick CD's ("El Mundo…") in a long time. Guillermo's romantic and passionate approach to music and the stick shows through in everything from the title, to the beautiful music within. Highly recommended..."

 

 

CONCERT´S COMMENTS

STICKNEWS DIGEST ISSUE #025
Subject: Guillermo Cides at Cal Arts (California) with Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard.
From: Casey Arrillaga Date: Sun, Nov 15, 1998
"I cannot tell you enough how much I enjoyed Guillermo Cides' performance at Cal Arts last Tuesday night. He performed on a bill with Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard, two of the finest to ever play The Stick, and I must say in all honesty that he stole the show. How? With music that had the best blend of heart, musicality, originality and technique that I have ever seen on The Stick. To put this in context, I have had the pleasure to witness live performances from Adelson, Culbertson, Kollwitz, Lampi, Levin, Tuttle and many others... none of whom lack in the aforementioned departments. It's just that Guillermo set a new high mark for my ears. He approached his instrument with a genuine humility and had the eyes and ears of everyone in the room. He beautifully re-created music from his albums, and Emmett and I commented to each other afterwards that we hadn't known that what sounded like multi-layered Stick tracks were in fact sophisticated arrangements involving authoritative technique and creative uses of effects and loops. His innovative incorporation of effects in his sound and performance had the only "non-amplified" Stickist I've ever met asking all sorts of questions about delay units and amplifiers. On two of his pieces, he layered sound after sound into gorgeous sonic sculptures and then stood quietly, happy to let his work speak for itself (thanks to Emmett for the imagery). (…) All in all, this was one of the best concerts I've ever attended, Stick or otherwise." Take care and happy tappin',
Casey Arrillaga
Toe Tappin' Records

STICKNEWS DIGEST ISSUE #025 (INTERNET)
Subject: Guillermo Cides at Cal Arts (California) with Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard.
From: Greg Howard
Date: Sun, Nov 15, 1998
"I'm delighted that Casey has written a review of last week's concert at Cal Arts. I first heard Guillermo's music in Casey's living room during the Fullerton Stick seminar in 1996. The freshness of his music caught my ear immediately. It sounded like no one else I'd heard, yet it drew on familiar sources. Guillermo's visit to the US last week has left me thoroughly inspired and challenged. No one has captured my imagination as a player in this way before. The sound of the instrument, thepower of the technique, and the vision of the artist all combine to form a unique musical statement. The whole of his music would not be possible on any other instrument. And I'm sure there are others like him out there, but I just haven't had the pleasure of encountering them yet. Looking forward to a return visit in June, and to hearing all about his Centro de Stickisats in Argentina."
Happy Tapping,
Greg Howard.





The Bach Tribute by Cides
STICKNEWS DIGEST ISSUE #025
Subject: Guillermo Cides at Cal Arts (California) with Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard.
From: Emmett Chapman
Date: Sun, Nov 15, 1998
"As with our solo performances at the Cal Arts Coffeehouse last Tuesday night, our styles are very different. Guillermo is the soulful stylist with the Latin flair and the gorgeous sophistication of sound. Greg is an idea generating dynamo with endless polyrhythms and sub-techniques between the hands. And me, I try to improvise compositionally by exploring the harmonic directions as much as melodic and rhythmic ones".
Emmett Chapman WONDEROUS STORIES MAGAZINE (U.K.) - 1/6/97
"Sunday night, the Leadmill was packed with over 400 people to see Fish, but first up was the returnvisit by Guillermo Cides, the stick player from Argentina. It is absolutely amazing the sounds Guillermo can get out of his instrument and I'm sure that like me, many of the Fish audience really appreciated his outstanding ability. When Fish came on, he seemed really menacing with his huge frame, short haircut and combat trousers, stomping about the stage.