Tommy Emmanuel – the real guitar hero
Posted by Katalin Török · Apr 21, 2014

Last Thursday, the magic of being in the right place at the right time happened to all of us, who went to see Tommy Emmanuel live at the Palace of Arts. Let me explain, why.

I believe there are stages of mastering a musical instrument. First stage, you manage to play songs accurately, dinamically, filling them with emotions. On your way of getting there, you learn a lot about the instrument itself – how it works, what it’s capable of, how to express delicate accentuations and different moods through it. Once you’ve mastered all the playing techniques you need and fully got to know your instrument’s capabilities, you may become successfull, if you’re lucky enough to have something undecipherable about the way you play music. Talent? That’s not necesserily enough. Charisma? Maybe. Luck? Probably all of these at once. The magic of what makes the difference between a great player and a genius musician can’t be described. One thing is for sure: once you hear a genius playing, you recognize it, and you’ll never forget it.

Tommy Emmanuel undoubtedly is a musical genius. With his humble and honest performance style and fascinating picking technique – which he learned from Chet Atkins –, he makes his audience believe there are no limits of what could be played on one guitar. Playing various melodies at the same time, it often sounds like 3 or 4 guitars are being played at the same time. Not to mention his use of percussive effects on his guitar. It’s mind blowing to see him performing live – it feels like there’s no boundary between the musician and his instrument, music just happens to come though him.

If you haven’t heard about him yet, here’s a video for you, where he explains how he’s built his carreer as a one man band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENJuNCkPfx0

Playing at the Palace of Arts was a perfect match. The acoustics of Béla Bartók National Concert Hall are perfect, the auditorium was full, an the concert hall in lights looks enthralling with its organ (ranked among the largest concert hall organs in the world). Tommy Emmanuel was impressed as well. He took a minute during the concert to tell us how happy he was to play here.

“When you’re a young child, you need to have a strong vision about what you want to do. For me, playing here tonight is a dream. It was my dream to become a guitarist and play in concert halls around the world, where everything can be heard and pleople can enjoy the concert in comfortable seats, and really can focus on the music. Tonight, playing here, I feel like I’m 10 years old again.”

He played all kinds of guitar songs, changing from blues to jazz, Beatles medleys to Chet Atkins songs, experimental pieces to polka – there are no limits for someone who knows his instrument as well as Tommy Emmanuel does.

He also invited two Hungarian musicians to join him for two songs – András Petruska got the opportunity to sing a song during the show, and Tom Lumen played a piece as well. This is another evidence to Tommy’s immediacy – he got to know them just a few days earlier via e-mails, and they had one rehearsal only before the show.

The over 100 minutes show passed quickly, and saying goodbye was not easy – we all wanted to hear more, so we clapped him back 4 times. Tommy Emmanuel was proud and happy, and he left us with smiles on our faces – it was a night of clebrating guitar music at its finest. I’m glad to have been a part of that, and I hope he gets back to us soon.

For more information about Tommy Emmanuel, visit his web-site: http://www.tommyemmanuel.com

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