Sam Farthing is 18 years old and he came all the way to Gerwen from the US state of Oregon to attend a guitar camp. “Here are my friends,” he says. And he is not the only one: guitarists from Canada, Portugal and many other countries also come to Brabant. And all that for a week of gypsy jazz lessons.
Behind the club building of the youth association Jong Nederland just outside Gerwen is a tent where you only hear guitars for a week. You can also hear guitar music from the various rooms of the building. Nearly thirty people learn to make music here, such as the famous guitarists Paulus Schäfer, Fapy Lafertin and Romino Grünholz.
“Gypsy jazz makes me really happy.”
Sam Farthing has been coming here for some years at the guitar camp. “It has become a tradition for me now. I discovered gipsy jazz when I was 13 years old. Since then I’ve been crazy about it. It is very energetic and emotional. A lot of other music sounds boring after you’ve listened to gipsy jazz. Yes, I could play pop music. But this makes me really happy.”
Gipsy jazz, also known as jazz manouche, originated around 1930. The Belgian-born Sinti guitarist Django Reinhardt was seriously mutilated in a fire in a caravan. He could only use two fingers to play the guitar. He thus developed his own style of playing, gypsy jazz. In the Netherlands, this style is especially famous for the Rosenberg Trio.
This company from Nuenen made sure that Thomas Kola from the Czech Republic discovered the gypsy jazz. “I once made the mistake of coming across this on the internet. And that changed my whole life,” laughs Thomas. “Since then, I’ve been totally sold and coming to this camp. Here I can be at the source of the music and learn from the very best.”
“Improvisation is the hardest part.”
“It is music that comes from the heart,” says teacher Paulus Schäfer. “We can’t read music. We play from feeling. That’s what makes the music so beautiful.”
The guitar camp lasts four days. “I think it’s important to pass on this music,” says Schäfer. “The chords are very easy to learn. But improvising is the hardest part. I want to teach them that here.”
