This tune is a composition of my father Jorge Milchberg, as part of a suite he composed for piano, called “Opus”.
This is a perfect example of his work as an arranger, the work he has done for more than 50 years with Los Incas.
Here the original theme is very short (from 1’08 to 1’17). Everything else is a composition around this melody. The original theme is from Peru, known as “Sikuri No2”. You can listen to one version here.
It’s been a long time since I wanted to make an adaptation of this tune for guitar and it wasn’t easy because the piano version is much richer. I had to deal with technical difficulties while trying to keep the spirit of the tune.
I play a beautiful guitar I ordered from luthier Baptiste Guillemin in Québec. It’s a smaller guitar than usual (G instead of E). I wanted this tonality because we played often in G with Los Incas trio, it was the best tonality for Maria Elena Medina to sing, as shown here.
I’m lucky in my actual job as a musician on La Perle show in Dubai because I can practice my guitar every day before the show. (I play guitar on the opening of the show, then I switch to other instruments: Kaval, Bouzouki, Cümbüş).
It took me more than two month of practice before recording “El Cerro López”.
