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Concert to showcase guitar’s versatility

All the diverse sounds of the guitar will be spotlighted at the This Old Guitar concert on Friday at The Matchbox theatre in Red Deer.
B07-Entertainment-Calum
Calum Graham

All the diverse sounds of the guitar will be spotlighted at the This Old Guitar concert on Friday at The Matchbox theatre in Red Deer.

Five different players will take listeners on a musical journey from flamenco to classical, blues and rock, to jazz guitar, said Steve Ridge, co-owner of The Matchbox, who organized the concert.

“A lot of people just think of the rock ’n’ roll guitar, but there’s a lot of different kinds of guitar playing out there,” added Ridge. “My interest was to showcase all the different genres,” so the instrument can be fully appreciated.

Three of the five accomplished guitar players who will perform and discuss their techniques are from Red Deer: Shannon Frizzell, Lee Cocolicchio and Paeton Cameron. The others are multi-award-winning Calum Graham from Calgary, and 16-year-old Micah Turchet of Caroline.

Graham, 18, has been known as “The Kid with the Golden Hands” since winning first place at the Calgary Stampede Talent Search last year. The fretwork-phenom with the dynamic and upbeat folk-roots style also placed first at the national level of the competition — the first time an Alberta has won in 30 years. Graham, who has already recorded an album, has been winning various competitions ever since, including the top prize at the Canadian Guitar Festival in Ontario — the first time a teenager has ever won it.

Turchet plays flamenco guitar with youthful joy, sensitivity and passion beyond his years. Having first been captivated by flamenco as a five-year-old, Turchet began learning the style himself by watching DVDs, on the advice of flamenco guitarist Juan Martin, whom Turchet saw perform in 2006.

Frizzell is a classical guitarist who teaches at Red Deer College, where he also studied, along with the University of Lethbridge.

Montreal-born Cocolicchio is a mostly self-taught guitarist with an enthusiasm for blues and jazz, although he’s played with a lot of different groups, including country ones. The former RDC and Grant MacEwan University music student likes to create, arrange and produce original music.

Cameron is a 21-year-old singer/songwriter who started out playing the drums before picking up the guitar and finding his passion. While Cameron has opened for such groups as Tequila Mockingbird of Victoria, he has lately been working on new material and putting together a new group. He will play rock and blues on Friday.

Ridge said the musicians will not only perform, but talk about their various methods and techniques. “It will be a bit of an education.”

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert are $22 from The Matchbox.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com