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About Michael Pérez aka Miguelito

Last update Sunday January 25, 1998

My last name is Pérez, but am I really Spanish?

I was born in Los Angeles, California where I learned Spanish from my Mexican friends. My parents are from the Phillipines. I haven't bothered to trace my family ancestry, but I do know that the Spaniards occupied the Phillipines some time ago and that with my last name of Pérez, a Spaniard most likely married into my family at some point in my lineage.
In any case, I didn't choose to play the flamenco guitar to celebrate my supposed Spanish heritage. It just so happens that I fell in love with flamenco music and also happen to have a Spanish surname.

How long have I been playing flamenco guitar?

Well, I first attempted to play flamenco when I went to my first jüerga in Anaheim, California in March or April 1990. A jüerga (pronounced who-AIR-ga) is an impromptu gathering of flamencos. So let's see...we're in 1998 now, so that's about 8 years.
Soon after my first exposure to flamenco, I met a young woman named Isabel at Cal State Fullerton where I majored in classical guitar. She introduced herself to me once while I was practicing outside the music department building between classes. Anyway, to make a long story short, she gave me my first few lessons in flamenco guitar, got me hooked with her wonderful playing and eventually I ended up playing at the dance studio where she used to play--the Blanca Luz Dance Academy in Buena Park, California.
Ever since, I've been playing for flamenco dancers at first just once a week when I first got started...nowadays nearly every night! Thanks Isabel wherever you are!

So what brought me to Washington DC?

There are a number of reasons why I decided to move here. First of all, I lived nearly all my life in California and I wanted to start anew shortly after my college graduation. My mother, who lives in Arlington, Virginia (which is "next door" to DC) suggested I move to her neighborhood --isn't that like mothers? :) Also the director of the Washington DC Chapter of the Spanish Dance Society offered me a paid job accompanying the Spanish dance classes at George Washington University.
So there I was, a college graduate with a Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance with a music job waiting for me along with a beautiful apartment all to myself! So on June 2, 1991, I left my California home and arrived in the Nation's capital to start a new life--so to speak. A few months after my arrival...the grant for my paid job at GWU was rejected, so I had to find myself the dreaded "day job"...more on this at a later date...

How did I learn flamenco?

(I'm still learning and will continue to learn for the rest of my life.)
After Isabel, I took a couple of lessons from her teacher: Ted McKown, who I believe still teaches out of his home in Santa Ana, California. The rest of the basic stuff, I learned from the Juan Martin books and tapes.
When I moved to Washington DC, I spent just about every weekend during my first summer there, photocopying flamenco music at the Library of Congress' Performing Arts Reading Room where I got to know the music librarians very well. So I compiled an alphabetized reference folder containing music in standard notation and tablature of everything from an Alboréa to Cantiñas to Mirabrás to Seguiriyas to Zapateado. I would actually bring this folder to all the classes and whenever the teacher asked me to play a rhythm I didn't know very well, I just opened up the folder to the appropriate page and sight read the rhythm for the dance class.
I did take a couple of lessons from local flamenco guru Paco de Málaga. He taught me some of the stuff that I just couldn't figure out from the books on flamenco music. Other times, when I was fortunate enough to be invited to play in a flamenco show, I would play next to a more experienced flamenco guitarist some of whom included Enrique Jova, Ralph Pemberton, Guillermo Juan Christie, Jesús Serrano and Marija Temo. Whenever I worked together with these guitarists, I learned and absorbed so much material and ideas that would keep me busy for months.
The rest of the time and MONEY was spent on numerous compact disks and tapes from Tower Records, which I visited religiously every weekend. I always carried around a Walkman and constantly listened to flamenco music on the subway and on the bus going to and from dance classes.
And of course I went to EVERY flamenco show that came into town and was fortunate to be invited to play for the dance classes taught by the artists of the visiting flamenco company including dancers from Paco Peña's Flamenco Fire company in September '91! And numerous visiting soloists including Manolo Rivera, Susana de Palma, Luís Montero, Raquel Peña et al.

Busy, busy, busy...

Well at first I played exclusively for the Spanish Dance Society and their classes at George Washington University. One thing led to another and eventually I found myself playing for just about every dance teacher and flamenco company in DC! Ok, ok...now I didn't let it go to my head. Washington DC is not exactly the flamenco capital of the USA. Anyway, the lead male dancer of the Spanish Dance Society, Jaime Coronado, asked me to accompany the classes he taught at Dance Place (near Catholic University) and one time he had to get someone to sub for him while he did a gig somewhere. So in walks Joana del Río, the sub for the evening. Being that flamenco accompanists are very hard to come by, Joana asked me to come to one of her classes which happened to be the following night. I was curious and a little bit nervous, so I went all the way out to some private home owned by a ballroom dance champion who had a very nice dance studio in the back.
So there's this gorgeous girl in this class...which made up for the fact that this class was a pain in the butt to get to. Anyway, I found out that she took another class from Joana on another night as well at the Carlos Rosario adult school in Georgetown which is far (about a 1.5 miles) from the nearest Metro. So, naturally, I found myself going to both of Joana's classes, Jaime's classes AND the Spanish Dance classes at George Washington U EVERY WEEK. OK so I went to a lot of these classes to see these gorgeous girls, but it's paid off...I can accompany reasonably well for most dancers since I spent so much time in the dance studio just watching and studying the footwork and the graceful arm movements etc etc.
Well...things were getting out of hand when I found myself coming home at 11pm or later feeling extremely exhausted only to find myself putting myself through the same thing the following day. So I stopped playing for classes and concentrated on performing, which is what I'm doing a lot of now. It usually pays well and I don't have to put in as much time as I did when I played for classes all the time.

So what are you up to now???

In December 1996, I temporarily dropped out of performing to concentrate on guitar technique and repertoire. I learned about studio recording and put together a couple of tapes of basic flamenco rhythms for a few of my dancer friends to use for practicing while I was on my "sabbatical".
At the beginning of the summer, one of these dancer friends of mine asked me to be her accompanist for a regularly scheduled weekend gig in a Spanish restaurant. Usually, I turn these kinds of jobs down, but I thought I'd give it a chance, especially since in addition to being a good dancer, she's one of the nicest people I know. And you know what? I'm having a better time playing just for this one special dancer whom I really like. Who is this dancer that I speak of? Click here to find out.

TO BE CONTINUED... Any questions? Ask me!