Information about the documentary

The documentary "Rastros Indelebles" (Indelible Traces) is supported by individuals and institutions who, thanks to their efforts and valuable contribution, allowed to carry out the production of the initial phase of this project. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of them!

Individuals:

María Edith Santiago (Ministry for culture, Venezuela)
Roberto Malaver, Gabriel Odremann (Ministry for tourism, Venezuela)
José Jesús Gómez Marcano (Venezuelan Institute of Music and the Performing Arts IAEM Venezuela)
José Angel Viña (Venezuelan National Music Company, Venezuela)
Daniel Suárez (Daniel Suárez's Art Gallerie - Caracas Venezuela)
Alirio Martin Alvarez Díaz, María Isabel Díaz, Senio Díaz, Fernando Briceño, Gerardo Pérez, Coromoto Graterol, (Alirio Díaz Foundation)
Elvis Antonio Perez, Luis Miguel González, (Venezuelan National Philharmonic Orchester, Venezuela)
Juan Marcano, Production assistent
Eladio Mujica, artistic advisor
Úrsula Rey (Coordinator Casa Chío UCLA, Carora, Venezuela)
Teresa Carreño Theater (Caracas, Venezuela)
Heike Sauer (Press officer, executive department director Colgne University of Music and Dance, Germany)
Antonio Nicolás Briceño Molina (ABM estudio Creativo, Valera, Venezuela)
Gretta Hinojosa, Luciano Marziali (Guitar TV World, Köln, Deutschland)
Roberto Aussel, guitarist
Luis Quintero, guitarist
Clara Rodríguez, pianist
Dr. Tilman Fischer (Director Rheinische Musikschule Köln)
Arnd Sprung (Leiter des Fachbereichs Gitarre, Rhenische Musikschule Köln)



Institutions:

PDVSA La Estancia, Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Turismo, IAEM, Stiftung "Centro Nacional de Música", Centro de Arte Daniel Suárez, ABM Estudio Creativo, Stiftung Alirio díaz, Stiftung Orquesta Filarmónica Nacional, Casa Chío UCLA, Teatro Teresa Carreño, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Rheinishe Musikschule Köln.

The documentary "Rastros Indelebles" (Indelebles Traces) is an initiative of venezuelan guitarist, pedagogue and audiovisual producer Jhon Jiménez for the web channel Guitar TV World based in Cologne, Germany
Jhon Jimenez studied at the “Conservatorio Vicente Emilio Sojo” in Venezuela as well as at the Universities of Music of Münster, Weimar and Cologne in Germany. As a concert guitarist he performs at various international music festivals. As a music pedagogue he was invited to develop a project for the world famous Venezuelan Children- and Youth Orchestra, called “el Sistema”. He also led projects for the social integration for children with migration background in Cologne. Currently, Jhon Jimenez continues to give pedagogical instruction at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne. As a film producer, he is co-founder, producer and director of the internet channel “Guitar TV World”, which specializes in the production of interviews, documentaries, video clips, and video portraits of some of the most renowned artists within the world of classical guitar.

This audio-visual production is aimed at a varied international audience. The documentary offers the viewers the possibility of entering the singular world of classical guitar music and at the same time it offers an approach to the musical diversity and richness of Venezuela, while being a component of Latin American culture.

The first production phase of the documentary took place in Venezuela in October 2016. Film shootings and interviews with family members and former students of Lauro and Diaz were made in various cities. Future shootings are planned in Italy, Greece, England and Germany, where more interviews of leading personalities of classical guitar will be made. Video clips with works for solo guitar, piano, harp, choir, guitar and orchestra by Antonio Lauro will be produced for this documentary.

Venezuela, culturally and demographically speaking, consists of a mixture of various peoples who arrived in the area during the colonial period. They all brought their own traditions, beliefs, music, etc.; these have merged ever since with the cultures and means of expression of the native indigenous peoples. In this way, an interesting, rich and diverse culture was born. Therefore, a clear African, European, and Indigenous influence is to be found in Venezuelan music. This partly explains the uniqueness of this music.

Classical music composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Chopin, Dvořák, Edvard Grieg, Isaac Albèniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, all integrated elements of folk music of their respective countries in their compositional style. This led to the birth of a new artistic movement: musical nationalism. Traditional music became more and more important as it became a source of inspiration for composers.
Latin America did not remain alien to this movement of the 19th and 20th centuries. Composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Manuel Ponce, Alberto Ginastera, and Astor Piazzolla used motifs, ideas and musical forms taken from the folklore of their countries and regions in their compositions.
Venezuela was, in this sense, the scenery of a very rich “nationalist” musical movement. One of the foremost representatives of this movement was the composer Antonio Lauro, whose work was mainly dedicated to the classical guitar.
Alirio Diaz played an important role as a virtuoso in the history of modern classical guitar. Diaz was a pupil, assistant and musical heir to the legendary guitarist Andres Segovia and he had a widespread influence on generations of concert guitarists. As an interpret, collector, arranger and teacher, he gave the nationalist musical movement of Latin America (Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Barrios, and others), and even more so the Venezuelan music by means of the compositions of Antonio Lauro, a foremost position in the universal guitar repertoire.

“Rastros indelebles” (Indelible Traces) is an audio-visual documentary within the world of classical guitar. This film tells the history of the fruitful artistic relationship between the Venezuelan composer Antonio Lauro and the also Venezuelan guitarist Alirio Diaz, two world-famous personalities who left indelible footprints in the history of classical guitar music.

The documentary tells the story of the lives of these two masters, of their collaboration and of their magnificent contribution to the repertoire of classical guitar music. It documents at the same time the vast richness and diversity of the Venezuelan culture. The film shows the interesting and inspiring biography of Alirio Diaz, a man born into a family of farmers and into poverty, who became one of the greatest legends and most influential figures in the history of classical guitar.