As a violinist myself, I am always drawn to solo violin rep. from other countries. Juan Reynoso was born in 1912 in Tierra Caliente, Michoacan and Guerrero, Mexico. He began playing the violin at age seven, however, he never learned to read music. Throughout his career, he has had an enormous repertoire, all of which has been self-composed. None of this music as ever been written down though! His music encompasses a variety of genres including "sones, pasodobles, danzones and polkas" but he prefers "gusto, a Mexico dance with a great rhythmic beat". He is often known as the Paganini of Mexico.
When listening to some of his playing online, I can definitely see a connection to American bluegrass and fiddle music. In terms of the playing style, there are definite similarities. There is a lot of sliding form one pitch to another, just as you would find in fiddle music. Also the bowing style is similar, in that it is very legato and carefree.
Here are some really great youtube videos of his playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR9IFQHRK8o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNXYhjEr3dM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I5I1fOcE_8&feature=related
These video reminded me of one time that I was watching the news and they had this story that was about the street music players in NYC. They decided to do an experiment and put one of the best violinist of the world in a subway station, at the end of the day he had only made like 30 dollars and very few people had appreciated his work even though he was performing some of the most challenging violin music out there.
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