Alirio Díaz through Folk and Classical Music

Born in a small village surrounded by the desert in the Venezuelan inland, Alirio Díaz has begun a unique and extraordinary itinerary. The agricultural life of the origins, the work in the fields, the economic precariousness, the struggle against illness... but in the end, as he himself puts it in these pages: such a great lust for celebrations. A bit like celebrating life, which is hard but that’s the way it is. This book illustrates Alirio Díaz’s trajectory, this “farmer who used to play the cuatro”, look after the animals and meanwhile was learning the Divine Comedy by heart and who has later become one of the most virtuous guitar players, admired by Celibidache and Rodrigo and who has enriched his interpretations with a “substrate” that he has always remembered with gratefulness. His example proves still today that learned and folk music are – can and must be – the same thing.