The University of Rhode Island hosted its eighth annual Guitar Festival last week, featuring legendary performers from across the world and a debut mandolin course.
This year’s festival was held over five days, with themed performances such as “Italian Night,” “French Night” and “Costa Rica Meets Greece.”
Headlining Thursday’s “Music From America” concert was up-and-coming low-down blues guitarist Jontavious Willis. Raised in the 800-person town of Greenwood, Georgia, Willis’s set featured a diverse array of playing styles inspired by generations of Southern Black heritage.
“I grew up with a lot of church music and with my elders like my grandfather,” Willis said. “I always hung out with older people so I had an appreciation for the older generations and an appreciation for good music.”
Willis played a number of songs such as “The Drummer Boy Blues,” a ballad about a boy who bought a drum to win the love of a girl, “Country Blues,” a banjo song written by famous Appalachian folk musician Dock Watson in the 1920s. He also played “Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor,” a blues song that was likely written around New Orleans in the 1890s.
With low-down licks, a broad dynamic range and warm vocals, Willis’s performance took you 100 years back in time and simultaneously introduced an incredibly unique sound. Mixing solo licks and chords high on the fretboard over a walking bass, Willis is able to make a single acoustic guitar sound like a full band.
“The secret is playing three finger [style],” Willis said. “An older dude told me that with three finger, you have the low, the mid and the high, and that’s the whole range. My middle finger is almost exclusively on the high E string, my index finger is on the B and G strings and my thumb is on the E, A and D.”
The festival’s final performance, “Argentina Meets Contemporary Italy,” featured performances by Argentinian folk musician Juan Falú and Italian experimental fingerstyle guitarist Luca Stricagnoli.
Stricagnoli, who played the last performance of the festival, played an extraordinary set; incorporating objects such as a screwdriver and a violin bow into his performance, using tapping and percussion to add depth to his sound and playing a self-built three-necked guitar.
“Getting to my style now was gradual,” Stricagnoli said. “I went from playing one to two-necked guitars, and then I put the third neck on, which is reversed. It took years.”
The festival also featured a debut five-day course on mandolin performance and four days of mandolin performances.
The festival, in its eighth annual rendition, has grown over the years from a single-day classical guitar workshop to a week of performances from musicians that represent the stylistic diversity that the guitar offers as an instrument.
“It’s been an exhausting five days, but it’s been a lot of fun,” URI masters in Guitar candidate and performer Adrian Montero Moya said. “Every single concert was a surprise – I just have no words to express how grateful I am.”
The guitar fest was a hit – bringing in a wide audience from across the community and showcasing styles of guitar from around the world.