48th Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona: Vicente Amigo

Vicente Amigo and his guitar show up as part of the De Cajón! series within this year's Barcelona International Jazz Festival. For several years now, Amigo has been among the biggest flamenco guitarists of all time. His music transcends the traditional style, incorporating modern and ancestral elements, often reminiscent of North Africa, and employs other instruments with great delicacy. The absence of vocals in a big part of the tunes and the variety of his work attracts a wide audience, including those who claim they aren't fans of flamenco. These are songs with a nocturnal ambience, warm and enveloping, that hypnotize but also keep you wide awake to follow the pace and changes of Amigo's nimble fingers.

Between the years 1991 and 2013 Amigo released nine solo albums and performed in many countries. He learned to play with the best, and has been inspired by Paco de Lucía, who's now a great friend of his. As a teen he performed with Manolo Sanlúcar's group, Sanlúcar being one of his teachers, and he's played with nearly every flamenco celebrity in the world as well as famous musicians from other genres including Sting, Miguel Bosé, Eliane Elias, Alejandro Sanz, Leo Brouwer and Khaled.