La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc. (La Casa) honors internationally renowned Master Luthier and Researcher William Cumpiano, in celebration of his years of exceptional artistry and significant contribution to Puerto Rico’s instruments and music.
La Casa proudly presents a special Recognition Award to William Cumpiano for his contribution to the preservation and education of the Cuatro, Puerto Rico’s national instrument, and for co-founding the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project in 1994, a nonprofit education and cultural research initiative dedicated to documenting the island’s folk music and musical craft traditions. After collecting oral histories, media, bibliographic resources, and original research for 25 years, in 2014 the project team published Cuerdas de mi Tierra (Strings of My Land), regarded as the definitive history of Puerto Rico’s Cuatro tradition.
Program Highlights:
In keeping with our tradition and appreciation for the Cuatro instrument, William Cumpiano will make a presentation entitled “Why is it called a Cuatro if it has ten strings”, discussing the instrument’s historical evolution and musical significance. He will also present the short video “La Décima Puertorriqueña” which summarizes the origins of the ancient Puerto Rican sung poetry tradition, its rules, and its trovadores.
The festive celebration will also include music from “Las Cuerdas de La Casa,” presented by Luis Rodríguez, our Cuatro Music Program Director and guitarist Gilberto Santiago, and for everyone’s delight, artisan Jesús Mangual will present part of his original hand carved wooden replicas of Taíno sacred objects (Cemíes).
BIOGRAPHY
William Cumpiano is an internationally recognized master luthier, celebrated for more than five decades of designing and crafting world-class stringed instruments. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 80 years ago, he has dedicated 55 years of his life to building concert-quality guitars and other fretted instruments rooted in North American, European, and Latin American traditions. His work has been recognized by the
Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Institute of Architects, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, as well as by musicians across the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Korea and Japan. Notable clients include Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe MacDonald, John Abercrombie, June Millington, Michae! Lorimer, Joel Zoss, and Paul Simon.
In addition to his instrument making, Cumpiano is a respected teacher, lecturer, and researcher. Over the years, he has trained hundreds of aspiring luthiers, many of whom became accomplished professionals. He is co-author of Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology, regarded as the standard reference in the field, with more than 85,000 copies sold since its publication three decades ago. He has lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad, especially through the Guild of American Luthiers and the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans, which he co-founded two decades age. His writings-dozens of technical and historical articles-have appeared in Frets Magazine, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Guitar Player Magazine, the Journal of Guitar Acoustics, ana severa. international publications. His work and career have also been featured extensively in these same outlets.
In 1994, Cumpiano co-founded the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project, a nonprofit education and cultural research initiative dedicated to documenting the island’s folk music ane musical craft traditions. After a 25-year effort collecting oral histories, media, bibliographic resources, and original research, the project team published Cuerdas de mi Tierra (Strings of My Land) in 2014, now regarded as the definitive history of Puerte Rico’s cuatro tradition. Through this work, cumpiano and his colleagues have earned recognition as leading authorities on Puerto Rican stringed instruments.
Today, from his Northampton, Massachusetts workshop, William Cumpiano continues to craft classical and steel-string guitars, as well as Puerto Rican cuatros and tiples for musicians worldwide, while mentoring a select group of students each year.
www.cumpiano.com • www.cuatro-pr.org
We look forward to seeing you, join us on October 18th from 3:00pm to 6:30pm at El Barrio’s Artspace Art Gallery.