In this article I give information on my work as a flamenco guitarist in Kent.
I am fortunate to receive bookings all over Kent.
These are for a range of different kinds of events.

I hope you find the information useful.
Perhaps you might like to click on some of the sound clips or visit the Videos page.
You can see my work with flamenco dancers and some solo pieces of duets with castanets.

Flamenco Styles and Options:

Solo flamenco guitar recitals.
Solo Flamenco and Spanish Classical Guitar recitals.
Shows with Flamenco Dancers and Castanet players.

Here are some examples of Spanish events in Kent.

Flamenco Dance and Guitar show at West Kent Golf Club

The golf club organised a very big and very exciting Spanish themed night.

They booked me to perform together with two flamenco dancers.
It was very clear that the two flamenco dancers were going to be the main part of the show.
Although I confess that I love playing solo accompanying flamenco dancers can also be inspiring.
I had often worked with both dancers separately but never together.
That poses special challenges and they responded superlatively.
Each flamenco dancer has their own unique style.
As such it can feel quite unnatural for a dancer to have to modify their dance to fit with another dancer.

Creating the Flamenco dance show

These two dancers got along very well right from the start.
They recognised each other’s strengths and set about using these to build excellent choreographies.
They were also very skilful at using the available floor space to create a visually interesting and exciting show for the audience.
Additionally each dancer performed a few of their own wonderful solo dances.
You may have seen flamenco performers making a kind of percussive clapping.
Their hands become a musical instrument.
In Spanish this is called “palmas”.
Thus when one was dancing the other was supporting with intricate “palmas”.

As a flamenco guitarist organising the flamenco performance, I cannot ask for more or better.

I played flamenco guitar solos between each dance to give the dancers a rest.
We improvised duets of castanets and guitar and even two castanets and guitar.
That was quite hard work for me but rewarding.
The warm and responsive audience energetically applauded the flamenco dancers.
They also enjoyed the relaxing contrast of my flamenco and Spanish classical guitar compositions.

Duet of Guitar and Castanets with Canterbury Music Makers.

This orchestra organised a fund- raising event for Operation Sunshine which sends supplies to poor communities in Africa.
They asked me to play several pieces of flamenco music together with castanets.
This was to fit in with their own programme.
The venue was a fairly old church which had great acoustics and fortunately perfectly warm.
I remember that we decided to play the lighter happy flamenco styles.
We felt that they would be more appropriate for this fundraising event than some of the very intense and sorrowful flamenco forms.

Solo Flamenco Guitarist for private party in Tunbridge Wells.

This was one of those garden parties when you never know what to expect.
I had no need to be concerned.
The hosts were such cultured intelligent people with a genuine appreciation of flamenco.
We briefly discussed the kinds of mood for each stage of the event.
I played a selection of flamenco guitar solos.
These included pieces that were romantic, powerful, slow and dreamy, energetic and forceful, sorrowful or joyous.
Some of the guests chatted with me about their experiences of flamenco in Spain.
So, I knew I was in a good environment.
Consequently, I very much enjoyed playing most of my repertoire.
I was happy to stay a little longer than planned.
I drove away feeling very happy to work as a flamenco guitarist in Kent.