I am very happy to have been booked for this event.

First, I will explain the music that I will play and then the reasons behind my choice of Spanish guitar styles.

The Spanish Guitar Music for Bar Limon

I will play solo flamenco guitar including flamenco forms that originated in South America.

However, very specially I will have the accompaniment of Mike, a second guitarist.

Mike is a real expert in the Rumba rhythm.

There are a number of ways of playing and accentuating the Rumba rhythm.

I play the very flamenco Rumba from Andalucia and this I do as solo compositions.

However, the Rumba developed in Catalunya into a slightly different pulse.

This is known as Rumba Catalana and the French group the Gipsy Kings developed their own unique rhythm from this Catalonian style.

Nearly every year Mike spends time playing the guitar with Gipsies at the Gipsy Festival of Saint Marie de La Mer, in the South of France.

In our duet work Mike provides the backing pulse over which I improvise the melody.

Some observers say that they can hear similarities with the Gipsy Kings. We do not play any of their copywrite music but as Mike is very familiar with their work it perhaps is present in our duets.

The reasons for my choice

Initially a client contacted me and explained that they were organising an event for a family member who had spent their childhood in Cuba and later lived in Catalunya.

Two thoughts immediately came to mind. I play the flamenco Guajira which originated in Cuba as well as other South American styles such as Colombiana, Rumba and Milonga.

However, as I explain above Catalunya has its own very special Rumba style and of course I immediatley thought of my accompanying guitarist, Mike.

I looked on the website for Bar Limon and found that the Founder Lucy Dunlop had lived in Barcelona, studied Spanish and politics in Chile and send time in Mallorca. Not surprisingly, Lucy is knowledgeable about all Hispanic matters.

Taking all of this information together I am thinking as follows:

This is going to be a great night with a client and a restaurateur who have memories of Spanish and South American cultures and music.

It is also going to be challenging for me. They may or may not know all the exact names of each piece but I am certain that they will intuitively know if it feels right.

I thrive on that kind of environment. It gives me the freedom to fully express every aspect of Spanish flamenco guitar.

Does this mean that people who do not have this Hispanic background will enjoy the music any less?

Categorically absolutely not. We all know that we feel music regardless of whether we can name the piece.

As such, I am going to enjoy playing together with Mike for the whole of Bar Limon.