Music
Their debut recording, Salsa Flamenca, on TSR Records, entered the Billboard top 25 new age chart shortly after its release in 2000. Their follow-up album, Sevilla, was released in 2001.
A half-hour concert of music from Salsa Flamenca was recorded by MHz Networks and broadcast on national television in 2001 and 2005.
In 2005, Young & Rollins joined with Bolero Records and released Esperanza. Their follow-up, Mosaic, was released in 2006.
The music of Young & Rollins appears on a growing list of compilation albums, including Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco, featuring music by Young & Rollins, Ottmar Liebert, Strunz & Farah, Armik, Oscar Lopez, Govi, Shahin & Sepehr, Lara & Reyes, and Jesse Cook. Other compilation titles include: Tabu: Mondo Flamenco, Bolero Gypsies: New Flamenco, Volume 1, and Caravan.
The Young & Rollins Quintet has performed at several international venues and festivals since the group's inception, including the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Utah Arts Festival, the Salisbury Festival in England, and the Sydney Opera House.
The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. Since the early 20th century the term has been used in different countries to refer to distinct styles of music and dance, most of which are only tangentially related to the original Cuban rumba, if at all. The vague etymological origin of the term rumba, as well as its interchangeable use with guaracha in settings such as bufo theatre, is largely responsible for such worldwide polysemy of the term. In addition, "rumba" was the primary marketing term for Cuban music in North America, as well as West and Central Africa, during much of the 20th century, before the rise of mambo, pachanga and salsa.
Gipsy Kings are a band of Catalan rumba, flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians, founded in 1978 in Arles and Montpellier, in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, who fled Spain during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They are known for bringing rumba flamenca, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco and rumba genres, to a worldwide audience. They were originally known as Los Reyes.
Sabicas was a Spanish flamenco guitarist of Romani origin.
Oscar Lopez is a Chilean-Canadian guitarist, whose signature style blends Latin and jazz styles.
Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records worldwide.
Johannes Linstead is a Canadian guitarist and instrumentalist who fuses virtuoso Spanish-style guitar with Afro-Cuban, Middle Eastern, and Latin American percussion and instrumentation. In 2017, Linstead was awarded the "Best World Album of the Year" in the T.I.M.A Awards. He has/had an influential artist endorsement deal with the Yamaha Corporation of America and an endorsee with D'Addario String Co.. Further accolades include being named "Guitarist of the Year" in the prestigious Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards (2007), two NAR Lifestyle Music Awards, a nomination for a Juno Award and others.
Lara & Reyes is an instrumental group founded by Sergio Lara and Joe Reyes in 1989. It performed flamenco-influenced Latin guitar instrumental pieces. Their first album Two Guitars - One Passion released in 1992 under Talking Taco Records Record Label, the album was available only at the duo's concerts and in a limited number of record stores around their home of San Antonio, Texas, later the album was released in 1996 under Higher Octave Music Record Label. By the time Two Guitars - One Passion was released in San Antonio, both Joe Reyes and Sergio Lara were receiving top honors in the San Antonio News's annual media awards. Both have won the acoustic guitar category, for instance, and Sergio's mandolin playing won him a first place award in the miscellaneous instrument category. The two have won the San Antonio Current award as "Best Latin Band" for two years running.
Rumba flamenca, also known as flamenco rumba or simply rumba, is a palo (style) of flamenco music developed in Andalusia, Spain. It is known as one of the cantes de ida y vuelta, music which diverged in the new world, then returned to Spain in a new form. The genre originated in the 19th century in Andalusia, southern Spain, where Cuban music first reached the country.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican acoustic guitar duo whose music is influenced by a number of genres including nuevo flamenco, rock, and heavy metal. The duo's recordings consist largely of instrumental duets on the flamenco guitar. Currently residing in Mexico City, they began their career in Dublin, Ireland, during an eight-year stay. They have toured internationally and in 2010, performed at The White House for President Barack Obama. In 2020, their fifth studio album Mettavolution won a Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Their most recent album, In Between Thoughts…A New World, was released in April 2023.
Strunz & Farah is a guitar duo with an eclectic sound that has been described as a cross between world fusion and flamenco.
Armik Dashchi, professionally known as Armik, is an Iranian-Armenian American New Flamenco guitarist, producer and composer. Several of Armik's albums have reached Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart. A child prodigy, born in Iran of Armenian descent, at seven years old he pawned his watch for a classical guitar, which he hid and practiced on in the basement. By the age of nine, Armik had completed formal music lessons as well as a rigid instructional regimen. At the age of 12, he was a professional recording artist. He launched his solo career in 1994.
Shahin & Sepehr are an Iranian-American guitarist duo. Sepehr Haddad is also the author of the historical fiction novel, " A Hundred Sweet Promises" by Appleyard & Sons Publishing.
Luis Villegas is an American guitarist best known for his debut CD Cafe Olé, which mixed new-age music, flamenco, and jazz and garnered a spot on the Grammy ballot for Best New Age Album of the Year in 1999. He is known for using a technique of playing fast, intricate lines by using the fingernail of his right index finger in place of a guitar pick. He also had a small role as a member of a band in the film Collateral starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. He is currently a member of the group "Heavy Mellow" along with founder Benjamin Woods and percussionist Mike Bennett.
Carlos Jonathan VillaLobos, Jr. is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist musician, who writes and produces original music for rock and pop artists, and composes modern orchestral music for trailers, television shows and films.
Rafael Riqueni del Canto, is a Spanish guitar player and composer. He is considered as one of the biggest names or “Maestros” in flamenco guitar history. At age fourteen, he won the two main national awards for flamenco guitar in Spain. As an adult, he has won the most prestigious flamenco music awards in Spain, including: Premio Andalucía de Cultura, Premio Nacional de la Crítica, Giraldillo a la Maestría de la XVIII Bienal de Flamenco y el Premio AIE. In 2017, he was awarded with XXXI Compás del Cante, this award is always referred to by the Spanish media as the "Flamenco Nobel prize".
Lawson Rollins is an American guitarist from North Carolina noted for his virtuoso fingerstyle technique and melodic compositional skills. Guitar Player magazine ranked him as one of the "50 Best Acoustic Guitarists of All Time". His music is generally classed as Latin jazz and world music, with elements of samba, bossa nova, Middle Eastern, classical guitar, flamenco, and shred guitar. He often employs fast minor scales and diminished scale solo runs to his compositions which are executed in the flamenco picado style.
Pavlo Simtikidis, often called simply Pavlo is a Greek-Canadian guitarist who plays, "a Mediterranean sound mixing the folkloric styles of Greek, Spanish and Latin music with pop sensibilities." Born in Toronto, Canada, he is the son of Greek immigrants, George & Freda Simtikidis, of Kastoria, Greece. His albums Pavlo and Fantasia certified Gold in Canada, and album Fantasia was nominated in 2001 for a JUNO Award for Best Instrumental Album.
José Luis Encinas is a guitarist. But his family settled in the Spanish Salamanca.
Américas is an album by the musical duo Strunz & Farah, released in 1992. The duo supported the album with a North American tour. Strunz & Farah promoted the album as "'a celebration of five centuries of Spanish guitar in the Americas.'" Although often referred to as a flamenco duo, Jorge Strunz felt that the designation did not account for the Latin American influences.
