Carlos Paredes
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Carlos Paredes (February 16 1925–July 23 2004) was a Portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century. He was known as the "Man with a Thousand Fingers".
He began playing at the age of 4 and started his music career at the age of eleven. He performed with many other artists including Charlie Haden and also wrote compositions for Fado singer Amália Rodrigues. He wrote a number of film scores and received particular recognition for the 1971 film "Verdes Anos" ("Tender Years"). In 2000, the string quartet known as Kronos Quartet recorded two versions of "Verdes Anos" and "Romance Nº 1", from the first Carlos Paredes album, "Guitarra Portuguesa", recorded in 1969 -1970.
During the 1950s and 1960s, beeing member of the Portuguese Communist Party, he was imprisoned for opposing the Portuguese dictatorship, some of this time spent in solitary confinement. He would walk around his cell pretending to play music which led some prison inmates to believe he was insane (in actual fact he was doing compositions in his head).
He suffered from myelopathy, a nerve disorder that preventing him from playing for the last eleven years of his life. He died in a nursing home from kidney failure.