Louder: The Face of Solo Guitar Is Changing. It’s About Time.

April 30, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

I just accidentally “read the comments” (in this case, replies to a tweet) about Grayson Haver Currin’s Arts & Leisure story this week — about how solo guitar has long been dominated by white male figures like John Fahey, but women, nonbinary instrumentalists and people of color are bringing fresh creative energy and much-needed change to the scene — and was reminded why this story is so important in the first place. (A parade of men tweeting back the names of famous guitarists in unrelated genres, like Jimi Hendrix. Thanks, you’re really opening my eyes!) Cleanse your soul, and your timeline, with the music and stories of Yasmin Williams, Marisa Anderson, Tashi Dorji, Rachika Nayar and Gwenifer Raymond. “It’s mostly young men who have been the market and the marketplace,” Anderson said. “But I am not going to spend my days focusing on masculinity and patriarchy. I am going to carry on, doing what I know how to do.”

Giovanni Russonello looked back at the fascinating work the trumpeter Don Cherry and his wife and creative partner, the artist Moki Cherry, produced in Sweden during a period starting in the late 1960s. Ed Morales spoke with Rubén Blades about his new project, “Salswing!,” which celebrates the connections between Afro-Cuban music and jazz. And Jon Caramanica put his finger on a new trend — musicians reworking a single song over a very long period of time — as an alternative to the traditional album cycle. (If you ever feel like Louder repeats itself, just consider it a remix of a previous, more successful edition.)

And please don’t skip the story that includes this oft-tweeted line this week: “When it was over, amid the fervent applause and cries of ‘bravo,’ there could be heard a single, appreciative moo.”

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The Face of Solo Guitar Is Changing. It’s About Time.

Since the heyday of John Fahey, the genre has been seen as the province of white men. A new generation of diverse players is rapidly changing that.

By Grayson Haver Currin

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Starting in the late 1960s, the textile artist and the trumpeter taught classes, held concerts and made work in a Swedish schoolhouse. This period is the focus of a new celebration by Blank Forms.

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Chase Hall for The New York Times

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“Salswing!,” his new project with the Panamanian big band leader Roberto Delgado, celebrates the connections between Afro-Cuban music and jazz.

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Continue reading the main story

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