I’m a big fan of Sungha Jung. I was browsing through his YouTube videos a few minutes ago (as I often do) and I listened to one I hadn’t heard before, Pirates of the Caribbean. It was pretty good, as usual. But the big WOW! came as I toured through other versions of the same piece and found one by a 9-year-old girl playing some kind of electric organ. What spirited playing! Wonderful stuff.

I’m posting both links, Sungha’s first. If you want to get the full effect, listen to them in order:

Tired of the same old way of holding the guitar? Here’s a guy with a better approach:

Manuel Ponce is known to classical guitarists as the composer of many popular works for classical guitar, but he is known to the world for this love song, Estrellita:

Estrellita del lejano cielo,
(Little star of the distant sky,)
que miras mi dolor,
(you see my pain,)
que sabes mi sufrir.
(you know my anguish.)
Baja y dime
(Come down and tell me)
si me quiere un poco,
(if he loves me a little,)
porque yo no puedo sin su amor vivir.
(because I cannot live without his love.)

¡Tu eres estrella mi faro de amor!
(You are my star, my beacon of love!)
Tu sabes que pronto he de morir.
(You know that soon I shall die.)
Baja y dime
(Come down and tell me)
si me quiere un poco,
(if he loves me a little,)
porque yo no puedo sin su amor vivir.
(because I cannot live without his love.)

This performance is from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in 1974. One of the YouTube comments is especially worth quoting:

Even more than her exquisite singing, what always strikes me is Sills’ simple and moving commitment, which goes straight to the heart of the listener with no affectation, no easy dramatic tricks. She simply communicates emotion through her voice and her face, what is a very difficult thing to do without sounding or looking artificial.