Billy Arcila at GSI

Guitarist Billy Arcila and I both used to teach at Pasadena City College and every year I’d get to hear him at the faculty recital. I remember one year I particularly enjoyed the pieces he played and it turned out that they were all his own compositions, so I was very happy when Billy agreed to perform those pieces for us and shoot some videos. So here’s Billy playing the three movements of his piece ‘Same River Twice’: The first movement is called ‘Dedication’ and he plays it on a Federico Sheppard ‘1934 Esteso – ex. Barrios‘ guitar, the second movement is ‘Same River Twice’, which he plays on a 1995 Antonio Marin, and the third movement is ‘Epilogue’, which he plays on a Loriente Clarita cedar. The fourth video is a separate piece called ‘Just Passing By’, which Billy plays on a 1967 Manuel de la Chica.