Juan Orozco

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Juan Orozco III (born April 14, 1937 in Madrid ) is a Spanish guitar builder, string manufacturer, concert promoter and musician who lives in Puerto Rico today. He was best known as a guitar maker for his models named after him and as a concert organizer in New York City.

Life

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Juan Orozco came into contact with guitars at a young age . His father, Juan Orozco II, was a guitar maker by profession. When he showed his guitars to the music group “ Los Índios Tabajaras ” touring Europe in 1947 , the musicians explained to him that there were hardly any trained guitar makers in South America.

In 1950, Juan Orozco II moved with the entire family to São Paulo , Brazil , and five years later to the Uruguayan capital Montevideo . At that time, Juan Orozco II was the only guitar maker in Uruguay . After finishing school, Juan Orozco III initially did not want to follow in his father's footsteps and began studying architecture. In the end he gave up this path in favor of his father's craft in order to found his first guitar manufacture at the age of 23.

Guitars and strings

The models # 8, # 10 and # 15 by Juan Orozco, which were produced from 1977.

Juan Orozco founded his first guitar manufacture in March 1960 with the help of the owner of the largest music shop in Montevideo. In order to market his guitars, he traveled to New York, USA for three weeks in April 1962 with the Latin American trio "Los Panchos". There Juan Orozco held talks with potential buyers of his instruments. However, it quickly became apparent that the demand in the US is much greater than expected. Juan Orozco returned with full order books and at that time manufactured all instruments for the American market in his factory in Uruguay.

Due to the deteriorating political and economic conditions in Uruguay (see History of Uruguay ), Juan Orozco decided to move to New York City . There he opened his first store in April 1964 at 156 W 48th Street. Musical instruments are still sold in the same premises today. In this shop, Juan Orozco not only offers guitars from other manufacturers, but also continues to produce his own models. The duo “ Los Índios Tabajaras ”, for example, obtained custom-made products from him.

As a guitar maker, Juan Orozco knew about the potential of concert guitars , but at the same time was convinced that the quality of the existing strings did not do it justice. That is why he has been making strings himself under the brand name " Aranjuez " since 1968 . After only two years on the market, the strings were so popular that Boosey & Hawkes for Europe and Kohno for Japan secured exclusive distribution rights.

Because he was enthusiastic about the guitar brands Matsuoka, Aria and Kohno, he traveled to Japan for the first time in 1969 and bought handcrafted guitars for his New York shop, which is now located on the 14th floor at 155 W 6th Avenue and Spring Street. The connection to Japan remained intact over the years, so that Juan Orozco was able to purchase the machines from Mass Hirade in 1976/77. He had been working for Takamine since 1968 . From 1975 Takamine expanded internationally and Mass Hirade took over the chairmanship of the Japanese guitar maker, which is why he also wanted to sell his machines. This equipment is still owned by Juan Orozco today.

From 1977/78 Juan Orozco played a key role in the development of high-quality classical guitars. In cooperation with Hoshino Gakki (brand owner of Tama and Ibanez ) and together with the Japanese guitar makers Kohno, Sakurai and Matsuoka, the internationally recognized models # 8, # 10 and # 15 are created, which are currently only available on the used market. The models # 8 and # 10 had a solid spruce top and back / sides made of Indian rosewood. The top model No. 15, on the other hand, had a bottom made of Rio rosewood ( Dalbergia nigra ). At the beginning of production, Orozco's guitars have a headstock that is reminiscent of the typical Fleta style. However, this is later replaced by a headstock, which became characteristic of Orozco's guitars.

Orozco's guitars were in demand all over the world at this time, so he u. a. co-founded a famous business in Paris. "La Guitarrera" has existed since 1982 until today.

Since 1986, Juan Orozco has also been selling Spanish concert guitars under the “Artesano” brand.

Cultural engagement and concerts

Juan Orozco's guitar shops were never just sales rooms, they were always meeting places for guitarists and the cultural center of the scene. He is actively involved in the popularization of Spanish music in NY. For this he starts the concert series "New Talents in Concert" and "Juan Orozco presents:". A customer at the time wrote: “I met Narciso Yepes for the first time in 1972 in Juan Orozco's guitar shop, which at that time was the center of the New York guitar scene.” (Original quote: “I met Narciso Yepes for the first time in 1972, at Juan Orozco's Guitar shop on West 56th Street which was the center of the guitar world in New York at that time. ")

Juan Orozco also founds the "National Guitar Institute" where he employs up to 78 guitar teachers. The guitar courses also include master classes by artists who perform with Juan Orozco (including Narciso Yepes , Los Romeros , Celedonio Romero, Pepe Romero , Angel Romero , Manuel Barrueco , Manolo Sanlúcar , Carlos Barbosa-Lima or Ernesto Bitetti). In addition, Juan Orozco supported the weekly radio show "Guitar Around the World" from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Classical guitarists from the first half of the 20th century as well as young talents could be heard.

Awards

Juan Orozco was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Citizenship by King Juan Carlos I in 1977 because of his important contribution to the spread of Spanish culture.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.nmz.de/artikel/zur-bedeutung-der-saiten-fuer-die-gitarre
  2. ↑ http://www.takamine.com/?fa=history
  3. ↑ Takamine
  4. ↑ http://orozcoguitars.blogspot.com/2008/08/kohno.html
  5. ↑ http://orozcoguitars.blogspot.com/2008/08/mail-contact.html
  6. ↑ http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=de&um=1&q=la%20guitarreria%20paris&fb=1&resnum=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl .
  7. ↑ a b c http://orozcoguitars.blogspot.com/2008/08/history-of-juan-orozco.html
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Page 9  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bostonguitar.info
personal data
SURNAME Orozco, Juan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish luthier, string manufacturer, concert promoter and musician
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Madrid