RAMÍREZ IN THE MUSIC MUSEUM OF BARCELONA



Last Thursday 18th June, Cristina, Enrique and I travelled to Barcelona to attend to the act of delivery of one of our guitars so that it took part of the collection of the Music Museum of Barcelona.

Around a year before, they had contacted us asking for this instrument with similar characteristics to the one used by the great player Andrés Segovia. The idea was not only to incorporate it to the guitar collection, but also to play it in some of the concerts that are celebrated there. Until then, the first guitar constructed by my nephews José Enrique and Javier Ramírez had been exhibited temporarily.

So we built a Traditional guitar for that purpose alone. Taking advantage of one of the innovations carried out thanks to the advice from our good friend the guitarist Piero Bonaguri, we constructed this guitar with what we call “thin neck”. It is the third instrument we make with this characteristic that, no doubt, benefits the comfort of the musician.
There, we finally met the whole team that made such a beautiful event possible: Marisa Ruiz, Tere Sánchez, ImmaCuscó and JaumeAyats.

JaumeAyats, the director of the Museum, made a presentation in front of a small and exclusive group, as it had been decided that the event would be private, in a warm atmosphere, surrounded by wonderful instruments in one of the most important rooms of the museum. This event was not only the presentation of our guitar, but also of other pieces that would be included in the collection: a guitar from Francisco Pagés that belonged to Victoria de los Ángeles and that was donated by the foundation of the same name, a guitar from Anselm Clavé and an Antonio Torres guitar.

After the introduction I was invited to say a few words, and I could not but say thanks for the invitation and also talk about the great joy it was for me knowing that one of our guitars was in the Music Museum, and not a museum of Musical Instruments, because there, they are used with the purpose they were created, that apart from their aesthetic beauty, they are meant to be played and be the means by which artists can express themselves.

Finally, the guitarist and friend Carlos Bonell gave a brief and marvelous concert with the guitar we gave to the Museum and, in spite of the short time he had to get used to the new instrument, different to the Ramírez one he already had for the previously mentioned reasons about the thickness of the neck, we all could enjoy his outstanding musical sense and the quality of his performance, as well as his joyful presence.

When the event was finished, we visited the museum and Gerard Jané, owner of the Jané Ventura wineries, invited us to take a superb cava, the Gran Reserva Do. Gerard, a great music lover, called such an outstanding cava DO because it is a musical note (C), and also because in Catalonian it means gift, and I understand that a gift is also a present that turns the one who has it into someone really special. With this cava we were given delicious chocolates, of dark chocolate, with the shape of a guitar that had been elaborated by the Chocolate Museum especially for the event. How much more could be asked?

The guitar collection is truly extraordinary and it has high-value pieces. Among them it could be seen the famous Torres cardboard sides and back that belonged to Llobet, and that I was delighted to see in “person”, although I should say “in guitar”.

During the drink we had after the event we met with friends from the guitar world such as Begoña Gómez from the Gato Negro strings, Granados’s granddaughter, María Rivera, Jordi Pizarro from the Llobet Contest, Marc Morera from Casa Blanca insurances and Gilles Baudu from Knobloch strings.

I also had the opportunity to see my good friend Max Sunyer, the great jazz guitar player, whom I had not seen many years ago, and my good friend Rosa Robles, also a jazz singer and excellent teacher of singing, whom I would like to see more frequently. It was a great pleasure to know the guitarist Jaume Torrent from my friend Max. We are very blessed to have good friends everywhere.










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