It was a normal day in Barcelona. We were walking through the streets—the light emanating in sporadic, awkward places, the walls sagging from the weight of so many years and squelching us in from the noisy traffic beyond—when we soon came to one of the many placas sprinkled throughout the city. Before we had a chance to get swallowed up again by the bulging buildings and their laundry-chandeliers that decorate the balconies, a very appealing feast was placed on our table: Spanish guitar music.
Us inside the amazing Palau de la Musica Cantalana
As appealing as it was, we were already stuffed and planning on going to the Magic Fountain that night. We had to choose one or the other and decided to omit the fountain and take in the nourishment of music. Though… at the last second we very boldly “yolo-ed” it, went to the Magic Fountain, AND arrived at the Palau de la Musica Catalana right in time to witness the amazing mellifluous workings of David Russell. To tell the truth I had never heard of him (that might be due to me not listening to Spanish guitar music in my free time) and David Russell didn’t exactly sound Spanish—we all were wondering how this was to play out, but we were excited and happy to be there.
David after one of the three encores he performed.
David was born in Glasgow, Scotland and moved to Minorca, Spain at the age of five. He then became interested in the guitar and went on to win many international competitions, other prizes and medals, and in 2004, a Grammy for best instrumental soloist in classical music for his CD Aire Latino.
Tuck and Jones soon fell fast asleep and at one point I too was almost headed down the same road, drowned by the sonorous guitar that seemed to breath in and out of the hypnotized crowd and which didn’t sound at all like only one person could be playing. David Russell was moving his hands so fast; too fast to even be possible, yet there I was watching him and his assiduous hands. It was very enigmatic. The music was flowing and harmonizing perfectly. He made it look so easy and natural. By the end it was hard to look at him; I just couldn’t wrap my head around how he was doing it. We finally woke Tuck and Jones and expressed to one another our feelings of awe and amazement at what we just encountered and then began our walk home.
Wescott meeting David and getting a signed CD of his music
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