KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Sunday, Feb. 12 – Abraham Lincoln's birthday – David Burgess brought his version of truth in guitar music to a small but enthusiastic audience at Kelseyville's Galilee Lutheran Church.

The concert was presented by Clear Lake Performing Arts, whose usual venue is Lakeport's Soper-Reese Community Theatre, but due to a conflict in dates, Galilee generously offered its picturesque church as a substitute.

Burgess, in making his third appearance in Lake County, chose this area to kick off a tour of West Coast cities.

In earlier appearances here he had concentrated on the music of Spain, with between-number discourses on the early development of the guitar and guitar music in the Mediterranean area.

This time, after spending nearly a decade studying the music of Brazil, he tailored his performance exclusively to the music of that country.

He explained that while most guitars have six or eight strings, the instruments played in Brazil usually include a seventh, providing for an extra bass line.

“Street musicians,” Burgess explained, “found they could perform with one fewer players with the addition of the bass string.”

He opened his program with “Sampa,” a piece written by Caetano Veloso as a protest against the military dictatorship ruling Brazil in the 1960s.

This was followed by two pieces by Ernesto Nazareth, who first conceived of the idea of combining the rhythms of the polka and tango, to achieve a uniquely Brazilian sound.

Burgess next transition was into what he called “The Good Old Days” of the music of Brazil, specifically the 1930s, headlined by the single-name composer Garato, who toured extensively with the Latin movie star Carmen Miranda and is also recognized as the originator of the popular Bossa Nova beat.

He ended the first half of his performance with music written by Raphael Rabello, one of Brazil's most popular and prolific composers in spite of his death at the early age of just 33.

Following intermission, with refreshments served by the ladies of the CLPA Auxiliary, Burgess returned with additional music from Brazil's contemporary writers including Armando Neves and Vinicius de Moraes, the latter being a well-known poet who turned his talents to music, including writing portions of the music for the movie “Black Orpheus,” with it's hugely popular theme “Cast Your Fate to the Winds.”

This was followed by two pieces from Brazil’s most popular current musical artist youthful Yamandu' Costa, including his “Samba Pro Rafa,” written as an homage to Raphael Rabello, with spectacular fingering by Burgess.

The concert concluded with two pieces from perhaps the most famed of all Brazilian guitarists and Bossa Nova practitioners, the late Antonio Carlos Jobim.

After the concert local classical guitarist Travis Rinker met briefly with Burgess to discuss the finer points of their respective instruments, as did guitar students Kayla Garcia and Sabre Bruffy.

Burgess also conducted a special clinic on Monday morning for music students at Lower Lake High School.

The next CLPA concert will take place on Mothers Day, May 2, at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, and feature the full Lake County Symphony, as well as the CLPA Youth Orchestra.