Carlos Paredes
Encyclopedia
Carlos Paredes, ComSE, (ˈkaɾluʃ pɐˈɾedɨʃ; February 16, 1925 – July 23, 2004) was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar
Portuguese guitar
The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It is one of the few musical instruments to use Preston tuners. It is most notably associated with fado.-History:The origin of the Portuguese...

 player, born in Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

, son of the equally famous Artur Paredes
Artur Paredes
Artur Paredes was a Portuguese guitar player in the city of Coimbra. Much of today's Coimbra guitar features can be traced back to his contact with local luthiers. His son Carlos Paredes was a virtuoso and attained popularity, becoming the most internationally known Portuguese guitar player...

. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century, being frequently considered to be the most talented Portuguese musician in the 20th century. For the way he played, he was known as the "Man with a Thousand Fingers".

Life and career

Carlos Paredes began playing guitar at the age of four and started his music career at the age of eleven. He performed with many other artists including Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...

 and also wrote compositions for Fado
Fado
Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...

 singer Amália Rodrigues
Amália Rodrigues
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, , also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress.She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a...

. He wrote a number of film scores and received particular recognition for the 1961 film Verdes Anos ("Tender Years"). In 2000, the string quartet Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

 recorded two versions of Verdes Anos and Romance nº 1, from the first Perry Froelic album, Guitarra Portuguesa, recorded in 1969 -1970.

During the 1950s and 1960s, being member of the Portuguese Communist Party
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, and its organization is based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself to be patriotic and internationalist....

, he was imprisoned
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 for opposing the Portuguese dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...

, some of this time spent in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...

. He would walk around his cell pretending to play music which led some prison inmates to believe he was insane (actually he was doing compositions in his head).

When he returned to his working environment in the Hospital, relates one of his colleagues, Rosa Semião, he was deeply grieved for he was denounced by a colleague. "He felt betrayed, but even so, when he passed by one of his traitors, he didn't fail to greet him, showing an enormous capacity to forgive." When the political captives were released, they were hailed like heroes. He has always refused this heroic status, attributed by the people of Portugal. He never said much about his time in prison, except that "Many people have suffered worse than I."

Albums

  • 1967 - Guitarra portuguesa

Variações em Ré maior

Porto Santo

Fantasia

Melodia N.2

Dança

Canção verdes anos

Divertimento

Romance N.1

Romance N.2

Pantomima

Melodia N.1
  • 1971 - Movimento perpétuo

Movimento perpétuo

Variações em ré menor

Danças portuguesas N.2

Variações em mi menor

Fantasia N.2

Valsa

Variações sob uma dança popular

Mudar de vida - tema

Mudar de vida - música de fundo

António Marinheiro - tema da peça

Canção
  • 1980 – “O oiro e o trigo” (editado na RDA
    RDA
    -Databases, information technology and computing:* Remote Database Access, a protocol standard for database access* Remote Diagnostic Agent, a diagnostic tool for Oracle database environments...

    )
  • 1983 - Concerto em Frankfurt

Canto do amanhecer

Canto de trabalho

Canto de embalar

Canto de amor

Canto de rua

Canto de rio

A montanha e a planície

Dança palaciana

Sede

Dança dos camponeses

In Memoriam

Festa da Primavera

Variações
  • 1987 - Espelho de Sons

Coimbra e o Mondego: Variações

- Variações A

- Variações B

Os amadores: Desenho duma melodia

- Amargura

- O discurso

A canção: Melodia para um poeta

- Canção de Alcipe

O teatro: A noite

- O fantoche

Lisboa e o Tejo: Canto do amanhecer

- Serenata

- Dança palaciana

- Canto de trabalho

- Jardins de Lisboa (Verdes anos)

- Canto de rua

- Canto do rio

A dança: Prólogo - Abertura para um bailado

- Raiz (Dança melancólica)

- Dança de camponeses

A mãe e o lar: Canto de embalar

- Canto de amor

Contrastes: Sede

- Canto da primavera
  • 1989 - Asas Sobre o Mundo

Asas sobre o mundo

Nas asas da saudade

Canto do amanhecer

Canto de rua

Canto de trabalho

Canto de amor

Verdes anos

Canto de embalar

Dança dos camponeses

Marionetas

Raiz

Sede

Canto de primavera

Variações sobre o Mondego

Variações sobre o Mondego N.1

Variações sobre o Mondego N.2

Canto do Tejo

Serenata no Tejo

Fado moliceiro

Desenho duma melodia

O discurso

A noite

Amargura
  • 1994 - O Melhor dos Melhores
  • 1996 – Na corrente (compilação de material inédito)
  • 2000 - Canção para Titi: Os inéditos 1993

Memórias

Valsa diabólica

Uma canção para minha mãe

Escadas do quebra costas

Canção para Titi

Mar Goês

Arcos do jardim

Arco de Almedina

Discurso

Albums in cooperation

  • 1970 – “Meu país”, by Cecília Melo
  • 1975 – “É preciso um país”, with Manuel Alegre
    Manuel Alegre
    Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte, GCL , is a Portuguese poet and politician, member of the Socialist Party, and a candidate to the Portuguese presidential election, 2006...

  • 1986 «Invenções Livres», with António Vitorino d'Almeida

Improviso 1

Improviso 2
  • 1990 – “Dialogues”, with Charlie Haden
    Charlie Haden
    Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...


Anthologies

  • 1998 – O Melhor de Carlos Paredes : Guitarra
  • 2002 - Uma Guitarra com Gente Dentro
  • 2003 - O Mundo segundo Carlos Paredes (complete work)

Other

  • 1957 - «Carlos Paredes»
  • 1962 - «Verdes Anos»
  • 1967 - «Romance nº2», «Fantasia», «Porto Santo»
  • 1971 - «Balada de Coimbra»
  • 1972 - «António Marinheiro»
  • 1994 - «O Melhor dos Melhores»
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK