Written Work and Documentaries
Cumpiano co-authored, with Jonathon Natelson the world's leading guitarmaking textbook, "GUITARMAKING: Tradition and Technology", a complete reference for the design and construction of the steel-string folk guitar and the classical guitar, which has been acclaimed as the principal textbook in his field and considered by many as the Bible of guitarmaking.
In 1998 Cumpiano and his colleagues wrote, directed and produced "Un Canto en Otra Montaña: Música Puertorriqueña en Hawaii" (A Song in Another Mountain: Puerto Rican Music in Hawaii), a short-feature video documentary on the music and social history of the century-old Puerto Rican Diaspora in Hawaii.
Cumpiano, together with Sotomayor and Echevarria, wrote, directed and produced twoDVD documentaries for The Cuatro Project. They are:OUR CUATRO Vol.1, the first feature-length documentary about the cuatro and its music and OUR CUATRO Vol. 2: A Historic Concert. Cumpiano and cultural researcher David Morales produced another DVD documentary THE DÉCIMA BORINQUEÑA: An ancient poetic singing tradition, directed by Myriam Fuentes. The proceeds of these recordings were to be used for the research and documentation activities of the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project.
- "Nuestro Cuatro: Volumen 1", The Puerto Ricans and their stringed instruments. An unprecedented documentary that reveals the emotional story of the development and the history of the music and stringed instruments traditions of Puerto Rico.
- "Nuestro Cuatro: Volumen 2", Un Concierto Historico/ A Historical Concert. The conclusion of video documentary Nuestro Cuatro, a cultural and musical history of the Puerto Rican cuatro and Puerto Rico's stringed instruments.
- "La Décima Borinqueña/ The Décima Borinqueña" An Ancient Poetic Song Tradition. The tradition of the décima of the Puerto Rican jíbaros and its singing troubadours can be traced back to popular poetic forms of the Island's colonial past. In them, one can trace the medieval Spanish and Moorish roots of the trovador.
Cumpiano also co-produced and co-directed in 2001, the documentary "Construyendo Cuatros" (Making Cuatros), which comprises visits with two of Puerto Rico's most respected cuatro makers, showing them at work, the sequence of constructing a cuatro, and their impressions of their craft and the future prospects for the instrument.
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