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Grove Music OnlineBarrios Mangor, Agustn

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Barrios Mangor, Agustn (Po) [Barrios, Agustn Po]

(b San Juan Bautista de las Misiones, 5 May 1885; d San Salvador, 7 Aug
1944). Paraguayan guitarist and composer.
Born in the remote Misiones district in southern Paraguay, Barrios began playing his fathers guitar at
around age seven. He lived in Asuncin during his adolescence, completing two years of high school at
the Colegio Nacional while studying classical guitar with Gustavo Sosa Escalada and music with
Nicolino Pellegrini.
In 1910 he departed Paraguay and journeyed to Buenos Aires. By 1912 he was in Uruguay, which he
would call his adopted homeland. In 1913 and 1914 Barrios made phonograph records for the
Atlanta/Artigas label in Buenos Aires. He was in Brazil from 1915 until June 1920, after which he
returned to Uruguay, where he based himself for the next nine years. During this time he performed in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and his native Paraguay (which he visited for extended sojourns in 1922 and
1924). He also continued to record for the Odeon phonograph label (19219).
In 1930 Barrios left southern South America and began presenting himself as Mangor (a legendary
Guaran chieftain), appearing onstage with feathers and headdress. This he continued to do until
arriving in Mexico City in 1933, where he met the Paraguayan diplomat Toms Salomoni, who took him
to Europe in September 1934. Living in Berlin, he remained in the patronage of Salomoni until late in
1935 when he journeyed to Spain for several months before embarking for Venezuela in 1936. Barrios
spent the last eight years of his life in the Caribbean and in Central America. Departing Venezuela, he
toured in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti before arriving in Cuba in late 1937. By mid1938 he was residing in Costa Rica. In 1939 he toured El Salvador and Guatemala, arriving in Mexico
City where he suffered ill health. He lived the last four years of his life in El Salvador, where he
continued to compose, teach guitar, and play concerts.

Barrios Mangor wrote guitar music of high quality that extended the technique of the instrument, taking
it beyond his predecessors, Sor and Trrega. He reputedly composed several hundred works for solo
guitar, of which about 130 have been located either in manuscripts or from his recordings. These
include Danza Paraguaya, Julia Florida, La Catedral, Las Abejas, Mazurka Apasionata, Un Sueo en la
Floresta, Preludio, op.5 no.1, Preludio, D minor, Una limosna por el Amor de Dios, Vals, op.8 nos.34,
and Variations on a Theme of Trrega. All have become part of the repertory.

Bibliography
R. Stover: Six Silver Moonbeams: the Life and Times of Agustn Barrios Mangor (Paraguay, CA, 2012)