Miguel Espinoza: An Awareness of the Music Inside

Espinoza outlines, “My current group is a fresh collaboration with an amazing cellist, Dianne Betkowski, and bass player, Randy Hoepker.”
Trained in classical chamber music and cello, Dianne Betkowski’s original works have been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic, in addition to the national symphonies of St. Louis, Houston, Honolulu, and Colorado, among many other groups. Her strings bond with Espinoza’s, partnering chamber music idioms with folkloric and flamenco tones.

Over the course of the group’s four recordings, the trio has been supported by a number of guest artists. These guests have included harmonica and piano player Howard Levy, saxophonist Lynn Baker, tabla and cajón instrumentalist Andy Skellenger, and sitar player Bijay Shrestha, along with Jordi Marin and Espinoza’s daughter Gabriella Espinoza on palmas, and Mario Moreno on timbales, congas, and bongos. Most recently, violinist David Balakrishnan from the Turtle Island Quartet and vibraphonist David Hagedorn have each contributed to Fusion’s latest release, Gabriella.
“Gabriella was named after my daughter,” Espinoza shares, “who is 19 and attending her first year of college at the University of Colorado-Boulder. I have been divorced since she was six and have taught her well: how to go camping and pitch a tent, be strong, and be her own person. So this album is very fitting to be named after such a brave and strong young lady.”

“Flamenco called me as a young toddler,” Espinoza reveals, “because I was brought to tears listening to the Cante and the ancient rhythms, and of course, the technically demanding guitar.”
“My first influence was Carlos Montoya,” he remembers, “and I went backstage and played for him when I was seven years old, and he immediately took me aside and touched my hands and showed me some exercises.”
“When I was a young teenager,” he recalls, “I met Paco de Lucía, and he became a great influence, as well as an advisor in my life.”
“Looking back, he confides, “My mother was 16 years old when she gave birth to me. I have no father. She is a Chicana, Native American muralist Carlota EspinoZa. She left me alone a lot to discover herself and her art.”
“The guitar was my constant,” he illuminates, “even when I was taken away and put in foster homes. My love of the guitar was, and still is, my strongest bond to anything in my life.”
“My grandmother was an alcoholic,” he explains, “and took me to bars, and I would play music when I was a young child, and people would throw money at me, and she would get her drinking money. Thus, I became a professional guitarist.”
“I remember my mom taking me to a classical guitarist to take a lesson,” he recounts, “and I was excited to show him the melodies I composed, and was heartbroken when he did not acknowledge my creativity and made me read music. I was not interested in playing these childish melodies. I already had the music inside of me.”

“I spent most of my 20s and early 30s touring with Maria Benitez’s Spanish dance company,” he provides, “and many other Spanish dancers such as Vicente Romero, Jose Greco, etc.”
“When I was 35,” he notes, “I signed a record deal with Silverwave Music and wanted Indian Tablas along with me because listening to Indian music spoke something ancient to me. That’s when I met Bela Fleck and Howard Levy. And since then, my life has been about collaborating with musicians from all over the world and me, just pulling from my boiling vat of tradition and my own intuition.”
“At this point in my life, turning 64 years old,” he muses, “I am just now beginning to enjoy the beginning of age as a musician and composer.”

The free flow of ideas and bonding between Espinoza and his partners has netted the group four full-length recordings. Each represents a new phase in the group’s development. Their debut release, Turtle Dreams, intimates a delicacy that bares a human sensitivity to audiences. In the follow-up recording, Veneta approaches the listener with the confidence to risk spreading their wings and deliver a cavalcade of improvised meanderings. The flamenco-esque excursions flittering across Living in a Dream are bold and lofty, as the banter between the musicians arc into organic fluctuations that promulgate a melodic rapport, which is magnetic and enthralling to listeners.
“To sum up my life,” he characterizes, “my main purpose with music is to touch people’s hearts, remind them of their humanity, and bring people together. That’s it.”

The music of the Miguel Espinoza Flamenco Fusion evokes introspection and optimism, finding so much beauty in life. The romantic lilt infused into the tracks has a universal appeal that speaks to the soul, meriting applause and acclaim from music communities worldwide. Perhaps seeing so much beauty in life can only be viewed through a romantic lens, but the lens that Espinoza sees life through is just as real as every other. The smooth bonding and perceptive synchronicity demonstrated by Fusion shares Espinoza’s vision. A vision that is in touch with the music continually taking shape inside of him.
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