THIS is a very special, sometimes poignant, story and I am devoting the whole of today's LoweDown column to it.

Over the past few weeks, the Torbay based musician Mike Edmonds has been recording a selection of guitar pieces by renowned South American composers and guitarists for his debut album entitled Milonga.

Mike will be known to many local performers and music fans as the proprietor of the Blue Walnut Café and live music venue in Torquay which, over the past few years, has featured guest appearances by many critically acclaimed musicians.

In recent times, the venue itself has won, not only the Torbay arts-based award for Original Artistic Contribution to the Community, but also the London Independent Newspaper Group's accolade as The Thirty-ninth Best Café in the UK.

Edmonds started his guitar playing career performing at London's South Bank Purcell Room and, after moving to Torbay in 1996, he performed as one half of the duo Ten Strings with violinist Alison Holt. Quite apart from his on-stage work to date, Mike has also taught guitar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, plus the University of Kingston upon Thames, and locally at Torquay Grammar School for Girls.

Sadly, Mike was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and so when he was offered the opportunity to record an album of his favourite Latin American pieces by friend and fellow musician Kevin Harding, it seemed appropriate to produce the album for the benefit of Cancer Research.

Many South Devon musicians will remember Kevin Harding as being the founder of the Applestone Music shop in Torquay which he sold in 2003 to develop a national network of music colleges. The Academy of Music and Sound is now one of the UK's foremost rock and popular music colleges and one of its seven nationwide centres is based in Exeter. Detailed information about the college network and its courses can be found online at www.academyofmusic.ac.uk

When he's not travelling from one end of the country to the other on college business, Kevin Harding also performs at various festivals as a finger-style acoustic guitarist. In fact, he recently launched his own album entitled The Wine List at sell out shows at the Edinburgh Festival.

More information about Kevin the musician and his album can be found online at www.kevinharding.com

In the meantime, Mike Edmonds' album Milonga goes on sale this coming Monday at £10 per copy plus £2 postage and packing where appropriate. The CD is available either online at www.mikeedmondsmusic.com or from the South Devon Cancer Research shops in Dartmouth, Paignton and Newton Abbot. Mike said "they say that, as a musician, you don't choose music, but music chooses you. This has been the case for me. My greatest inspiration is the sound of the guitar with its incredible variety of tone, and the depth of expression which can be portrayed on this most beautiful of instruments.

"In calling my new album Milonga, I hope I have captured the essence of South American guitar music used to accompany dance, be it a romantic ballad or a lively tango. This is a collection of pieces for solo guitar by my favourite South American guitar composers. Milonga is not only an expressive form of South American dance but it also means a musical gathering or party where friends meet to dance and socialise. Both meanings are totally relevant to the album. I hope you enjoy the short excerpts of each track on my website's Listen page."

Indeed, before writing this piece, I visited www.mikeedmondsmusic.com clicked on the Listen link and allowed the exquisite sound of Mike's playing have a remarkably soothing effect on me. This is absolutely extraordinary virtuosity by a man with the dual gifts of technical expertise and expression. As a former guitarist myself, I have no hesitation in hailing Mike Edmonds as a genuine guitar maestro; a world class classical guitarist who, in any other age, would have been a household name.

It beggars belief that Milonga is his debut album. But perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that, these days, reality TV reigns supreme, while the truly talented, like Mike Edmonds, just get on with the job of making beautiful, meaningful and enduring music.