The concept for "Contatos" program was born when I was impressed by some similarities between northeastern Brazilian music and the music of eastern Europe. Most noticeably, the two traditions shared the strong presence of rhythm (despite very different time signatures) and a certain modal character. Madureira's pieces are very representative of northeast Brazilian music, while Rougier uses mixed measures with odd numbers of beats to render his guitar versions of Bulgarian, Romanian, and Greek themes. Bela Bartok in Hungary, Leo Brouwer in Cuba, and Octave Agobert in France did not limit themselves to their own cultural idioms. All thee were influenced by the old sounds of eastern Europe, although in the music included here a variety of other traditions are touched upon as well. Brouwer bases his last "Apunte" upon a Bulgarian theme, and opens his first with a Manuel de Falla quote. Completing this somewhat European excursion (from Spain to B...