Alirio Díaz

Alirio Diaz was a Venezuelan guitarist known for his expression, clarity, and flawless technique. His other contributions include arrangements of Venezuelan folk music for guitar, recordings, and literary works. He was born in 1923 in La Calendaria, a small rural town in Western Venezuela. He came from a large family with three sisters and seven brothers, and they were raised by their father. As a boy, he helped with the garden and livestock, and played the cuatro and the guitar. Diaz was taught how to read and write by his uncle, who also gave him his first guitar lessons. Since there was no public school system established during his childhood, the responsibility to educate children was typically left to the elders of the family. At the age of 16, Diaz ran away from home to find a better education, and to escape his abusive father. He walked 30km to the town of Carora and stayed with one of his older brothers who worked as a typographer. For the next few years, Diaz learned the profession from his brother and eventually started working with him at the state printing office. He also went to a school in Carora and finished the sixth grade. After his graduation he studied music theory with Laudelino Mejías in Trujillo, and he also learned how to play the saxophone and the clarinet. In 1945 he moved to Caracas and became a student of Raul Borges at the Escuela Superior de Música José Ángel Lamas. Five years later, he won a scholarship from the Venezuelan Ministry of National Education which allowed him to travel to Madrid to continue his education. In Madrid, he studied guitar with Regino Sainz de la Maza, and gave his first recital at the Biblioteca Nacional. The following year, he began lessons with Andres Segovia at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. After three years of intense study and practice, he began working as Segovia's assistant and substitute at the academy and he started giving recitals at the most prestigious venues in Europe. As Diaz's reputation grew, composers began dedicating works to him including Rodrigo's Invocacion y Danza, Lauro's Concerto for guitar and orchestra, and many others. By 1965 Diaz became the guitar professor at the Accademy Chigiana, which was Segovia's former position. His contributions to the guitar repertoire include several arrangements of Venezuelan folk music. He was also active as a writer for Venezuelan periodicals, and he completed his autobiography in 1984, Al divisar el humo de la aldea nativa. Diaz passed away in Rome in July of 2016. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi