Borrego Sun - Since 1949

Named after the Elven retreat to the West where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee and Gimli, son of Gloin retired after the war against Sauron in J.R.R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings legendarium, the Valinor Quartet performed beautiful music with a touch of history thrown in for good measure.

The music spanned the globe, from Argentine tango to Brahms' Hungarian Dance #1.

Jakub Trasak on violin, Slava Tolstoy on guitar, Greg Feingold on bass are all graduates of Boston's Berklee College of Music, and Sergei Teleshev of the Trio Voronezh on accordion, continued their Student Outreach performance of education and entertainment.

With each number played, notes on instrument history and musical styles were presented to enhance enjoyment.

I'm sure that few people knew, that although appearing in it's present form in the mid 19th century, the accordion is a descendant of the 10th century BC Chinese instrument known as the Sheng. And, of course, everyone knows that stringed instruments date to the 2500 BC lyres of Ur.

The styles combining these instruments, like Klesmer, circa 1880 eastern Europe, and Zydeco, early 20th century Louisana, along with a combination of old style Gypsy music with a Jazz beat picked up in Paris called "Gypsy Jazz", are only a part of the appeal of this exciting band.

Too much history? Sorry, it makes the music better.