Barrios Mangoré, Agustín
(b. May 5, 1885, d. August 7, 1944)
Agustín Barrios Mangoré was the greatest guitarist/composer of the first half of the present century. Barrios was born into a large family in the small town of San Bautista de las Misiones, in Southern Paraguay, the fifth of seven sons. Both of his parents were educators and both placed great value on culture and arts. Inspired by his mother's guitar playing, Barrios began to play the guitar at a very young age.
Through the folk music of his native country, young Barrios received his first introduction to music; with songs such as the polca paraguaya, vals , and the zamba. In 1898, Barrios was formally introduced to the classical guitar repertoire by Gustovo Sosa Escalada. At that time, young Barrios had already composed works for the guitar, and also performed pieces written by his former teacher Alias, such as: La Chinita and La Perezosa. Under the influence of his new teacher, Barrios went on to perform and study the works of Tarraga, Vinas, Sor and Aguado. Sosa Escalada was so impressed with his new pupil, that he convinced Barrios' parents to let him move to Ascuncion to continue his education. 3 Having already surpassed the technical and performing abilities of most guitarists, Barrios began to seriously compose around 1905.
"... as a guitarist/composer, Barrios is the best of the lot, regardless of ear. His music is better formed, it's more poetic, it's more everything! And it's more of all those things in a timeless way. So I think he's a more significant composer than Sor or Guiliani, and more significant composer --- for the guitar --- than Villa-Lobos."