The influence of the guitar in the province of Alicante
Thanks to José Luis González and José Tomás, the province of Alicante was one of the most important schools of the world.
When we talk about the Spanish guitar, we make reference to an international instrument, with guitarists, composers and builders or luthiers, which are scattered across the world and dedicate their lives to the guitar in order to make it grow, promote its development, and sometimes innovate.
In Alhambra Guitars, we insist on adapting the instrument to the performer’s demands, woods, distribution of ribs, more ergonomic necks, and of course, we work on the sound, the power, the quality and the sound projection of the guitar.
Half a century developing guitars has provided many guidelines in the philosophy of the company for internalizing and contributing constantly to the evolution of the instrument.
In fact, the Alhambra’s history is closely linked to the history of the guitar of this this Levantine province.
The great Francisco Tarrega was a huge influence over the zone; in fact, he met his bride-to-be at Novelda. What is more, this important mountainous region has been the birthplace of great guitarists.
Quintin Esquembre (Villena 1885 - Madrid 1965) was a guitarist, composer and cellist, who contributed to the history of the guitar by means of compositions with a very strong Spanish character, valuable transcriptions for the guitar trio (played by the Esquembre trio) and compositions of popular tradition, one example of that is the famous paso doble named La Entrada.
As far back as the 80s, with the presence of the outstanding students of the master Andrés Segovia, José Tomás (Alicante 1934 - 2001) and José Luis González (Alcoy 1932 - 1998), the Province of Alicante became one of the most important schools of classical guitar in the world. In fact, hundreds of guitarists from the five continents came to Alicante, which is a province of Spain with more hours of sunshine per year, with the purpose of honing their skills with the instrument of six orders.
An evidence of the importance of the guitar influence in Alicante is the creation of a master’s degree in guitar. The Master in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of Alicante has been studied by dozens of students from all over the world.
A project which wants to go further, turning the city of Alicante into the world capital of the classical guitar. In fact, there is no a lack of history to get it.
