John Williams plays Carlo Domeniconi‘s most well-known 1985 piece Koyunbaba.
Carlo Domeniconi (born 1947) is an Italian guitarist and composer known as a concert artist in both the classical and jazz idioms.
In this rare video below, Williams plays the Koyunbaba suite in a live concert, year: 2000. The sound quality is not very good, though.
Koyunbaba suite
Domeniconi is most well known for his 1985 piece Koyunbaba. Koyunbaba is a small village in Bodrum district of Muğla, Turkey (I was born in Muğla). The name is Turkish and literally translates as “sheep-father” (koyun-baba), or “shepherd.” Some sources also translate it as “the spirit of the sheep”.
It can also refer to many other things, including a 15th-century mystical saint-like figure whose grave is decorated with colored bits of cloth by Turkish villagers seeking his help with family problems. “Koyunbaba” is also the family name of his descendants, who still reside in the area, and the name of a wild, dry region of Southwest Turkey, near Bodrum. According to local legend, the area is seemingly cursed – numerous people who have attempted to rent or purchase the land from the Koyunbaba family have died or fallen ill.
Domeniconi has referred to two specific examples: one was a German woman who wanted to keep the area in its natural and unspoiled state but was soon stricken with cancer. The other was one of three sons of the Koyunbaba family who suddenly sold some of the lands, but then hanged himself.
The village’s name is coming from that Koyunbaba family.
Carlo Domeniconi
Domeniconi was born in Cesena, Italy. He received his first formal guitar lessons in 1960 from Carmen Lenzi Mozzani, granddaughter of the famous guitarist and luthier Luigi Mozzani.
Making rapid progress, he won first prizes at the Ancona International Festival of Guitar in 1960 and 1962.
After obtaining his diploma from the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, Domeniconi left Italy for West Berlin, where he studied composition at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik under Heinz Friedrich Hartig.
Upon graduation in 1969, Domeniconi took up a teaching position in Berlin, which he held until 1992.
Already in the 1960s, Domeniconi became interested in Turkish music traditions, which he studied in situ in 1977-1980, establishing and heading the first classical guitar course at the Istanbul University State Conservatory, and on many shorter trips, he took to Istanbul.
Carlo Domeniconi’s musical style is characterized by his adoption of multicultural influences. His works explore and borrow from a wide variety of national traditions, including Turkish, Indian, Brazilian, and many more.
He has more than 150 published works.
Sources
- Carlo Domeniconi on Wikipedia
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