Guitar Craft, the guitar
circle
Courses take place regularly in Latin America, North
America, and Europe. By 2011, three thousand students had completed courses.
Students who have completed a GC course and who continue GC practices are
called "crafty guitarists" or "crafties". Notable crafties
include Trey Gunn and the California Guitar Trio, who joined Fripp in forming
the Robert Fripp String Quintet. GC-related Guitar Circles and other ensembles
perform in Europe, the USA, Argentina, and Mexico.
GC's official performance ensemble has been The League of
Crafty Guitarists.Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists has released
several albums, via Discipline Global Mobile. The League of Crafty Guitarists
has been directed by Hernán Nuñez since 2002; Nuñez, a long-time instructor of
GC, is one of the developers of the Guitar Craft Pro Model, whose design has
been influenced by that of the Ovation Legend] For organizational logos, Guitar
Craft and the League of Crafty Guitarists use a knotwork design, which was
inspired by the red knotwork design appearing on later covers of the Discipline
album by King Crimson; both designs were made by Steve Ball.
Warr-guitarist Trey Gunn studied with Robert Fripp in Guitar Craft, before joining King Crimson.
The Guitar-Craft experience and the League of Crafty
Guitarists trained guitarists who went on to form new bands, such as the
California Guitar Trio and Trey Gunn; the California Guitar Trio and Gunn
toured with Fripp as The Robert Fripp String Quintet.
Bill Rieflin, the drummer for R.E.M. following Bill Berry's
retirement, developed "a musical style that beautifully balances
mindfulness and force" through his long association with Guitar Craft;
Reiflin stated that "I couldn't possibly describe in any detail the impact
this has had in my life; I can say that it was and continues to be significant.
Were I to say 'life-changing,' this would be true, but it wouldn't begin to
communicate the depth of the experience.”
Other alumni of the League of Crafty Guitarists include
members of Los Gauchos Alemanes, such as U.S. guitarist Steve Ball; Ball is
associated with the Seattle Guitar Circle,[35] along with LCG alumnus Curt
Golden. German crafty Markus Reuter went on to play Warr Guitar in Europa
String Choir and centrozoon, subsequently designing his own touch guitar and
playing in Stick Men and The Crimson ProjeKct in addition to a solo career. The
collection A Plague of Crafty Guitarists features the following Guitar-Craft
alumni, who were listed in a review by Barry Cleveland: Tobin Buttram, Nigel
Gavin, Geary Street Quartet, Bill Hibbits, Janssen and Jensen, Sur Pacifico,
Playmovil, and Santos Luminosos.
In February 2009, Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft cease
to exist on its 25th anniversary in 2010. In March 2010, a 25th Anniversary
Course marking the Completion of Guitar Craft was held. In practice, Guitar
Craft continues with a focus on Guitar Circles and The Orchestra of Crafty
Guitarists. Courses entitled "Introduction to Guitar Circle" continue
to be held in the Americas and in Europe. The website of Guitar Craft contains
links to related and successor organizations and associations. Guitar Craft
inspired the founding of the Seattle Guitar Circle and the Seattle Circle
Guitar School in 2010
“Compiling The History Of Guitar Craft, I see as part of the
process necessary to carry the GC current through its Great Divide. Forms,
vehicles and structures will be different on the other side, with their own
names, originating from and through those who wish to find new ways of working
with the GC current.”
Some of the new forms, vehicles and structures are:
Applied Music / Contemporary Guitar Ensemble –
http://www.cgeoficial.com
Creating Music Together
– http://creatingmusictogether.org
Guitar Ensemble Of Europe – http://guitarensembleofeurope.com
Música En Movimiento – http://musicaenmovimiento.com
Ray Of Light – (website under constriction) / Orchestral
Maneuvers – http://orchestralmaneuvers.com
Steve Ball – http://steveball.com
Luigi Nono. Prometeo
Prometeo (Prometheus) is a 150-minute opera by Luigi Nono,
written between 1981 and 1984 and revised in 1985. Here the word
"opera" carries the generic Italian meaning of "work," as
in work of art, and not its usual meaning. Indeed, Nono scornfully labels Prometeo
a "tragedia dell'ascolto", a tragedy of listening. Objectively it can
be considered a sequence of nine cantatas, the longest lasting 23 minutes. The
Italian libretto, by Massimo Cacciari, selects from texts by such varied
authors as Aeschylus, Walter Benjamin and Rainer Maria Rilke and presents the
different versions of the myth of Prometheus without telling any version
literally.
