THE second annual Isle of Man GuitarFest will see a range of world class guitar players descend on the Island — and the night of Saturday, September 5 will be one of the undoubted highlights as playing on the same bill at the Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, are solo acoustic guitar greats Pierre Bensusan and Gordon Giltrap (playing separately), with support from another virtuoso, Michael Berk.
Pierre began to teach himself the guitar at the age of 11 and he is known for his use of the DADGAD tuning — an alternate tuning for the guitar where the sixth, second and first strings are all tuned down.
He came across the tuning when experimenting on the guitar.
'I taught myself how to learn my fretboard this way and my chords this way and my brain is wired differently from guitar players playing in standard tuning,' he said.
Pierre has been working on the re-release of his back catalogue, which he has now got control of.
'I have decided to re-issue everything on my own record label and find distribution in every country where I tour.'
Some of the music has been remastered and the art work has been re-done.
'Because we are dealing with 10 records, we are going to issue them in three different batches, it's all very exciting. Its' a bit like a therapy!' he said.
He made the decision to do this as some of the recordings had been out of print and some of his fans were having difficulty in finding his records in stores.
Is it very difficult to choose what to perform in concert?
'It is difficult, you want to give a faithful rendition of who you are today but also where you came from. I am trying to find a good compromise,' he said.
And despite his brilliance on the guitar he admits he feels the need to play every day and adds: 'I am trying to be driven always by my imagination.'
Pierre has had a wide range of influences, starting off with fingerstyle blues players from the United States such as Big Bill Broonzy, Reverend Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt.
He then started to listen to more country folk music like Doc Watson, Chet Atkins and Merle Travis while folk guitarists such as John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Martin Carthy had a big impact on him.
In fact the list of his influences would be too long to state here — but, perhaps like many great musicians, he has listened to a whole range of styles.
Tickets for the Gaiety concert are £18 and are available from the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal, Douglas, by ringing the ticket hotline on 600555 or 694555 and online at www.villagaiety.com
Concessions are available by ringing the ticket hotline.
And guitarists are in for an extra special treat as Pierre will also be giving a special masterclass at Peter Norris Music, Douglas, between 10.30am to noon the same day on DADGAD/alternative tunings.
Masterclasses are priced at £5 per class for adults, £3 for young people. There will also be a masterclass pass available giving admission to all five masterclasses, featuring different artists, during the festival for £12.50 (£7.50 young people). See jonnopromotions.com and iomguitarfest.com for the latest details.
For the full line up of acts at the GuitarFest see the websites below and there will be more on the event in What Where When as the countdown to the festival continues.
www.pierrebenususan.comwww.iomguitarfest.comwww.jonnopromotions.com