Bireli Lagrene At Age 12 | Early Footage

My last post on young virtuoso Andreas Varady reminded me of this clip of Bireli Lagrene at age 12 -- already a monster player, but somehow seemingly unaware of the depth of his talent.  Growing up in an isolated mountainous region where almost everyone is an amazing guitar player will do that to you..

Larry Coryell had this to say about his first encounter with the young Bireli Lagrene in 1978, at about the time of this video clip.

"Before the gig they brought this kid in. He was awkward-looking and kind of homely - this was before he had his teeth fixed.  And he was real small, really dwarfed by the guitar. His dad was there -- I remember he was drunk. But Bireli took out his Django-style guitar and started to play, and I couldn't believe it. He sounded exactly like Django Reinhardt. It was incredible. I was traumatized."

12-Year Old Guitar Prodigy Andreas Varady!

Born in Slovakia, Andreas Varady is of Gypsy descent and sounds like he's been playing guitar for 25 years -- except that he is only 12 years old!  No repetitive pentatonic noodling or SRV-style posturing for this kid.   

I think it would be safe to say that we haven't seen talent of this caliber at this age since 1978, when a 12-year old Bireli Lagrene emerged on the scene with a fully-formed technique in the Django Reinhardt tradition.

And like Bireli, Andreas also started playing the guitar at the age of four, under the tutelage of his father.

Now residing in Ireland, Andreas Varady is just getting known outside of his adoptive country, and it's just a matter of time before he gets onto the international music festival circuit.  This kid is well on his way to a busy musical life. 

Andreas has a bunch of clips on YouTube, and I am checking out each and every one.

Talk about an old soul.