JOE SATRIANI, GLENN HUGHES, GILBY CLARKE

New Zealand's G-TARanaki To Feature JOE SATRIANI, GLENN HUGHES, GILBY CLARKEPosted on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 13:57:17 EST



According to Stuff.co.nz, Venture Taranaki today announced New Zealand's first international guitar festival will be held in the province from July 14 to 19. Guitar legend JOE SATRIANI will head the line-up of international guitar stars, which includes former DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH bassist and vocalist GLENN HUGHES and ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Gilby Clarke.

The festival, called G-TARanaki, has been made possible by the international rock reputation and perserverance of Venture Taranaki events project manager Garry Sharpe-Young.

The former rock journalist and writer of countless rock 'n' roll books said the festival would include a number of concerts, workshops, forums, jam sessions and school visits.

Its objective was to give New Zealand guitarists the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by guitar legends across a variety of musical styles.

Mr. Sharpe-Young said what was special about the festival was the artists would not jet out as soon as they had played, but would stick around to mix with locals.

"I hope this festival will create lots of unique moments that will only happen in Taranaki. "We're going to be getting a lot of local guitar experts in as well, and you never know what will happen when you get all of them together with these international guys. "There will be a lot of collaboration, a lot of sharing."

He said many of the big name artists would take time out from their international tours to attend the festival because it would be a unique experience.

"This type of thing is exactly what they want to be involved in. To have the opportunity to meet their fans face to face and teach kids is what they love," he said.

For Hughes, it will be his first time in New Zealand since Deep Purple came in 1975.

"Taranaki sounds both intriguing and wonderful," he said. "To be able to meet, play, talk and interact with the local musicians and musical youth will be a very rewarding experience for me."

Mr. Sharpe-Young said it was too early to speculate about whether it would become a yearly event.

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