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JUAN CARLOS ROMERO - Guitar
Born in Huelva JUAN CARLOS ROMERO first started learning the guitar with his father when he was eight years old, before taking lessons at the age of ten with the man who he regards as his great teacher, Miguel, "El Tomate de Almeria" - the founder of an important dynasty of guitarists which includes his son "El Nino Miguel" as well as his grandson "Tomatito". Romero's first involvement in the world of accompanying flamenco dance came in the school run by Matilde Coral and Rafael "EI Negro", and then with Manolo Marin and "El Mimbre". He was subsequently awarded the Premio Nacional de Guitarra (in the recital section) from the renowned Jerez de la Frontera competition.
He has since been involved in top-quality works with Spanish artists of the highest order: he participated in the staging of Rafael Alberti's "La Gallarda" at Expo '92 in Sevilla, worked on the film soundtracks for Carlos Saura's "Sevillanas" and "Flamenco", shared the stage with the likes of Enrique Morente, Esperanza Fernandez, Miguel Poveda, Estrella Morente and Carmen Linares and has received acclaim as much from the critics as from the public. Enthusiastic praise from fans and the specialized critics alike also met his first solo recording, "Azulejo".
In 1999 the Compania Andaluza de Danza chose him to provide music for the "Un Ramito de Locura" show with choreography by the dancer Javier Baron, similarly for Cervantes's "Rinconete y Cortadillo" which was choreographed by Javier Latorre. In May 2000, Juan Carlos Romero took part alongside Carmen Linares in the Teatro de la Maestranza of Sevilla in "La Melancolia", a production embracing daring musical forms which he had composed especially for the cantaora and which was very well received.
Enrique Morente, Rocio Jurado or "El Pele" have sought out and performed his compositions and with them he has recorded and produced some of their recordings and of some of their many television shows, both nationally and internationally.
REVIEWS
New wine in old bottles
As soon as we start listening to Juan Carlos Romero's guitar it becomes clear how much distance has been covered by this music before it reaches our heart. From bygone ages it comes down to us: in its echoes we are permitted to feel the old pulsating heartbeat of our purest and wisest tradition.Yet every toque, every cadence, each note seems to bear the mark of inspiration anew. Just as poets infuse words, which have become worn-out and faded by usage, with the freshness and brightness that they once possessed, so too does Juan Carlos Romero rapidly remind us — in the flavour of a falseta, in the formal rhythm of a farruca, or in the light and mischievous play of a fandango de Huelva - of that original energy which has become changed over the years into dull routine or into a mere display of technique. Flamenco is, indeed it must be, timeless: from yesterday, from today and from always. From here derives that miraculous equilibrium between the personal and unmistakeable style of each performer and the great rushing torrent of the tradition, which is in no way anonymous but draws from everybody. The best artists come from the frontier land between those two territories, that place where the singular and the plural fuse into one.
This is what we instantly recognise in Juan Carlos Romero - an artist whose music yields up no space to the banal or to the trivial.We listen to his bulerias and know that at any moment, Juan Carlos could draw from his broad technique a frenzy of picados, of alzapuas, of contratiempos, all despatched with a startling rhythmic vigour. But no. His is a different style, one both more profound and more real, where the pauses themselves are laden with musical meaning, where ideas which move one deeply are evident yet barely voiced, where he is suggesting the most essential throughout. Both the poet and the musician need to know how to be silent when they have succeeded in pulling hard at the soul's most intimate fibres. Such a dominion of silence is one of the most important virtues for an artist. One listens to Juan Carlos Romero and swiftly a fresh current of originality pervades everything. It is as though we were returning to those events in our childhood when we encounter particular moments of happiness for the first time, when we come upon those first unrepeatable occasions, of surprise and innocence.There is where lies the secret fountain from where flows the inexhaustible little thread of our emotion.
This is what I have felt when listening to the guitar of Juan Carlos Romero, as I am lost over and over again in the maze of his rich and highly original interior world. So much gracefulness! Such great depth! How rich a knowledge! So many instants from today, yesterday and always, brought together in the inspiration of magical moments! New wine in old bottles.
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