Guitarist Matthew Marshall Photo: Supplied
More than five years after hatching the plan, Matthew Marshall is finally going to Serbia.
First Covid, then political unrest derailed the classical guitarist's appearance at the guitar festival in the city of Vrnjci, Serbia, but not this year.
Very soon, Marshall will be heading north with Kiwi-born Irish based tenor Christopher Bowen, although the duo have four gigs in Aotearoa before they leave: in Blenheim, Christchurch, Palmerston North and Whanganui.
Matthew Marshall joined RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump to talk about the tour, his ongoing project to get New Zealand composers to write music for his instrument (which includes a publishing branch, Hatchet Music) and his latest project, writing a history of the classical guitar in Aotearoa.
Based on what he had to tell Crump, the book has the potential to be a fascinating read.
Marshall says nobody knows who brought the first guitar to New Zealand, but we do know from old newspaper advertisements that many New Zealanders were teaching guitar and mandolin by the end of the 19th century.
The first New Zealander we know of to establish a professional career as a guitarist was the Nuhaka born Walter Smith (Ngāti Kahungunu).
Members of his whanau adopted the Mormon faith, and Smith accompanied his aunt and uncle to the US state of Utah as part of a group of missionaries. There he grew up to became a highly proficient musician on guitar, banjo and mandolin, studying music at Brigham Young University in Utah.
Smith later returned to New Zealand, first to teach in Hawkes Bay and then to become a key player in the emerging jazz scene in Auckland.
Marshall hopes to have the book completed by the start of next year.
Meanwhile, he continues to bring new New Zealand guitar music to the world.
His latest tour with Christopher Bowen will feature world premieres by Christopher Blake, Anthony Ritchie and Louise Matthews.
Guitarist Matthew Marshall Photo: Supplied
