It was late March 2017 when I asked Notis Mavroudis to meet for an interview. He readily agreed. And while we inevitably referred to the concert - an activity he was involved in at that time, our conversation encompassed many other topics that touched upon a broader philosophy of life and art.

The interview was posted on my personal blog "Songs and Miasmas" on March 28, 2017, and I believe it deserves to be included in this edition now, on the occasion of Cafe Latino.

"Cafe Latino - El Puerto" marks Notis Mavroudis's return to arrangements of pieces for two classical guitars together with guitarist George Tosikian, his younger colleague and close collaborator in concerts in recent years. Thirteen Canciones y danzas populares de America Latina y Espana, folk songs and dances from Latin America and Spain, that is, from the rich musical tradition of Bolivia, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Spain, in which Mavroudis and Tosikian intervene with their unique guitar timbres and sonic inventions.

Compositions by anonymous creators, lost in the depths of time, that now become the raw material for the search for new colors, landscapes, and the eternal musical ethos that emerges from the classical guitar. Among them are two beautiful songs by Mexicans Ramon Ayala and Agustin Lara, which are once again sealed with the interpretation of Morfou Tsaireli, also a constant collaborator in Mavroudis's concerts in recent years.

Antonis Boskoitis