Amazing Artistry

Duo Siqueira Lima 'Tico Tico'

(CECILIA SIQUEIRA and FERNANDO LIMA)
(click here for HQ version at YouTube)

Watch this once and be delighted and amazed. Watch it more closely a second time and you see that the performance really transcends even what you first saw and heard. Around the 52 seconds there is a distinct transition in the music (from arpeggio to picado, or so I'm told.) At that point the guitarists start playing 'cross-handed,' by which I mean she's picking (right hand) the treble strings that he's fretting (left hand) and vice versa on the bass strings. Watch again at 1:52 when he takes over fretting 5 strings and she frets the bottom E 'over the neck.' And I'm not sure, but I think there is a point where the strings are allocated other than top three/bottom three - she's picking the bottom string and top two while fretting the bottom three and he's picking the middle three while fretting the top three.

Never mind all of that. If there were no accompanying video at all -- if you were told (or assumed) that this was two guitarists playing two guitars -- wouldn't it still be delightful to listen to in its own right?

I give the piece two thumbs up, a Bravo, a Brava, and a standing ovation.

There's more on their website, which is offered in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

TAGS: Music Video, Tico Tico, Duo Siqueira Lima
Wow, just wow