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.
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