Fandango "Santiago de Murcia"

Santiago de Murcia (1673 - 1739) Codex Zaldivar No.4 Mexico c.1730 Spanish composer Santiago de Murcia is considered the last great exponent of the Spanish five-course Baroque guitar, a transitory instrument between the lowly Renaissance guitar and the modern Classical guitar. De Murcia privately published a major collection and treatise on guitar playing in Madrid in 1714 entitled Resumen de Acompanar, and his work is known from three manuscript collections, among them Passacalles y Obras, located in the British Museum since 1880, and Codex Saldivar No. 4, named after Gabriel Saldivar, who discovered the manuscript in Mexico in 1943. Codex Saldivar No. 4 was not related to de Murcia until the 1980s, and at one time it was common to open biographies of de Murcia with the line "very little is known about him." Nevertheless, through new works discovered and the diligent research of musicologists Monica Hall and Craig Russell a coherent historic profile has begun to emerge of de Murcia since the author of Saldivar No. 4 was finally determined, albeit a still highly conjectural one. Santiago de Murcia was born into a family of musicians who served at the Royal court of Spain in Madrid; his father Gabriel de Murcia and older brother Antonio both worked as instrument makers to the Spanish king. Santiago de Murcia's first professional engagement was as guitar instructor to Doña Maria Luisa Gabriela, Queen of Savoy, the wife of Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain. She died ...

Fandango [VHS]

An unknown Kevin Costner is magnetic in this entertaining road picture that bypassed most theaters when it was released in 1985. On the eve of their college graduation in 1972, five students go off for one last road trip together to righteously celebrate the privilege of youth. Kevin Reynolds expanded his grad-school film to make this one, which he also directed, and it caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who made Fandango one of his first projects at the newly formed Amblin. Costner's charisma is undeniable in his first lead performance as Gardner Barnes, the free bird of the group. Barnes applauds buddy Kenneth's (Sam Robards) decision to cancel his wedding and now is talking him into dodging the draft. But lost love drives Gardner, too, and we see dreams of an abandoned beauty (Suzy Amis). Others in the car include stick-in-the-mud Judd Nelson (in his best performance), who is gung ho for fulfilling his duty in Vietnam, and the soft giant Dorman (Chuck Bush). Reynolds's aggressive camera style and great use of music (Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)" and Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" bookend the picture) make this film zing along. Reynolds and Costner went on to film (and fight off-screen) two more pictures, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Waterworld, but they were never better together than in this first film. Being hungry Hollywood unknowns does have certain advantages. --Doug Thomas