Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 By Los Índios Tabajaras

Although written for the piano, this is arguably the definitive interpretation of this classic favorite by Chopin. Los Índios Tabajaras began as two guitar-playing brothers from northern Brazil. They initially claimed to have found a guitar in the Brazilian rain forest and taught themselves to play. Both were actually quite accomplished classical guitarists, having spent several years in serious classical studies. They changed their names to Natalicio and Antenor Lima and dressed in ceremonial Indian costumes for their performances. In 1943, RCA’s Latin American arm first signed them to a recording contract, although little from that period is still available. Their first (and only) major hit was “María Elena”, recorded in Mexico in 1958 and released in the US in 1962. “María Elena” spent 14 weeks in the US Top 10 and became an international hit. They followed with “Always In My Heart”, their only other single to reach the top 100. Antenor retired from performing due to health, but Natalicio continued to perform into the 1990s with his wife, Michiko. They released a series of albums of mostly popular music that enjoyed worldwide success. Nato and Antenor’s classical interpretations are considered by many to be the purest ever recorded. They were especially fond of the works of Chopin, Bach and Beethoven. Their classical recordings also included the works of Rimsky-Korsakoff, de Falla, Villa-Lobos and Tchaikovsky. Nato built a guitar with 26 frets instead of the standard …
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Mark Knopfler, his younger brother David Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers formed the band in 1977. Dire Straits (a name given to the band by a musician flatmate of drummer Pick Withers), recorded a five-song demo tape which included their future massive worldwide hit single, “Sultans of Swing”, during 1977. The now famous demo tapes of five songs were: “Wild West End”, “Sultans of Swing”, “Down to the Waterline”, “Sacred Loving” (a David Knopfler song) and “Water of Love”. They took the tape to DJ Charlie Gillett, who had a radio show called “Honky Tonkin” on BBC Radio London. The band simply wanted advice, but Gillett liked the music so much that he played “Sultans of Swing” on his show. Two months later, Dire Straits signed a recording contract with Phonogram Records.[3] The band’s success came too late for original drummer Patrick Scott, who quit the band in the mid-1970s, believing that they would never break through.
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