HALF MOON FEATURES CLASSIC GUITAR TONIGHT

By Juan Montoya
When I was attending Texas Southmost College on the G.I. Bill in 1975, I had a roommate named Joe Vasquez.
Joe and a bunch of like-minded students attending the community college which included Rick Sanchez, Victor Cavazos, Frank Bejarano and others would get together over the weekend and head off for Boca Chica or to our folks' houses to sip a  few cold ones and chit chat.
At the time, Joe, my roommate who wanted to be marine biologist, took up classical guitar as part of his electives. I had never given much attention to the genre and – like most of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s – preferred Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, even Cream or Vanilla Fudge.
Then I heard my roommate practicing for his classical guitar class and I was sold on the genre.
For any of you who have heard Francisco Tarrega do "Capricho Arabe," or "Recuerdos de Alhambra," Isac Albeniz's many compositions like "Asturias," also known as "Leyenda,", "Variations on a Theme by Mozart" composed by Fernando Sor, or any of the Five Preludes by Heitor Villaobos, you have missed out on a type of music that you need to hear.
Most, if not all, were transcribed by Andres Segovia, the master of the classical guitar.
Villlobos, by the way, was a Brazilian composer who lived at th turn of the 20th Century and is known as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras ("Brazilian Bachian-pieces")."
Why the reminisce?
About three Wednesdays ago I wandered into George Ramirez's Half Moon at the corner of 11th Street and Adams and was pleasantly surprised to hear the sweet, elegant sounds of "Capricho Arabe," strumming from the stage. Ever hear something (or smell it) that takes you back immediately to another time? That song did that to me.
The guitarist playing the classic was none other than TSC music virtuoso Jon Dotson. His rendition was flawless.
It should be.
After all, his website indicates that he "holds eight top prizes in international classical guitar competitions,
including the Dallas International Guitar competition and Boston Guitarfest, and is now a frequent clinician and adjudicator for guitar festivals and competitions throughout the state.
"Jonathan holds three degrees in music including a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the recipient of the Mary Winton Green Endowed Presidential Scholarship in music. He currently serves on the faculty of the Texas Southmost College Department of Humanities"
Tonight, Dotson and his gifted students are doing  it again, as they will be hopefully for many Wednesdays to come.
For me, it was a trip back through a time when I discovered the beauty and elegance of classical guitar from my roommate. For everyone else, it might be a time of discovery and appreciation.