The best album your money can buy
Martin S | Oxford, UK | 01/02/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Soft, strangely inebriating, a gentle guitar takes over your mind, your heart and then your movements. It's a Portuguese sound with hidden routs lost in the midst of time. Some say it derives from early Christian music, others affirm that it has strong Arabian influences. The Portuguese discoveries, in the Renaissance, gave it an African touch, and then it became international. It's music, pure sound, without words, understood by everyone, so simple and so deep and touching. This album, composed and played by the best in the Portuguese Guitar world - Carlos Paredes, compiles the greatest hits of this man's life, he who was always a civil servant, even when his career was at its pick, he who said: I have no objectives, is now one of those blessed persons that produced something that lasts: art! Everything is so beautiful that I find it very difficult to recommend one theme, but I guess Verdes Anos, is my favourite. If you can, buy it, listen to it and may it touch you as it touched me."
Guitar artistry
Martin S | 10/10/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had never heard of Carlos Paredes but bought this disk while visiting Portugal. I've played guitar for 20 years and am always trolling for new discoveries. It did not take more than a couple of tracks to realize that I had stumbled onto someone who is a true master. The Portuguese guitar has a wonderful sound and the compositions and playing on this disk are fantastic. Best disk I've bought in a long time."