Los Romeros Celebrate 60th Anniversary With Livestreamed Concert

Speaker 1: 00:00 What better way for San Diego to celebrate the reopening of arts and music and almost normal life. Then the re-emergence of one of the county's most famous classical music groups, but guitar quartet, Los Ramirez will perform a 60th anniversary concert to Sunday. The musicians are world renowned, not only as the first guitar quartet, but also for the creation of an entirely new repertoire for guitars as a chamber ensemble. Although some of the players have changed over the past six decades. Each guitarist remains a member of the Romero family to retain the title of the Royal family of guitar and Johnny Mia's Pepe Romero. One of the original members of Los Romeros Pepe. Welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:45 Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to join you. Speaker 1: 00:48 Can you remind us how Los Ramirez was formed all those years ago? It was a legacy started by your father. So the Donio wasn't it? Speaker 2: 00:58 Yes, it actually began in Spain. My father was a tremendous musician and inspired us. We are three brothers and the three of us chose to do the same thing to play music, to enjoy the guitar. And it was a natural thing that in 1961, we gave a concert where each of us played by ourselves. And at the end we joined together and we improvised on a piece written by my father for my mother on [inaudible] when we'll be playing that piece in the live streaming from the Valley app. And the guitar was born. Speaker 1: 02:07 Now, Los Romeros is described as the first classical guitar quartet. Did you have to compose arrangements of classical music for four guitars? Speaker 2: 02:18 We have range or four guitars from orchestral music from music of Spain, Manuel defied. Yeah. From Baroque composers. And then we said mom to commission, guitar, composers to write for us. So it was the birth of the guitar. As a genre. Speaker 1: 02:41 We have a clip here of one of the pieces you'll be playing on Sunday, Al Baya de Louis Alonzo Speaker 2: 02:59 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 03:23 That's one that you arranged for the quartet, isn't Speaker 2: 03:26 It? I did arrange it indeed. And that was an arrangement that I did very early on in our careers. And he's from a wonderful Sarah Suela, which is like a it's the operator's from Spain. And it's a very joyous piece is by [inaudible]. And we will be performing that. These also on Sunday, May 23rd as it is one of our great, Speaker 1: 03:57 Who are the family members who make up the present version of Los Romeros. Speaker 2: 04:02 They are my brothers saline and myself are the two members that have been there from the very beginning. And then my nephew, Selena, who is the son of saline. He came into the quartet in 1991. When I feel left the quartet to just concentrate on his solo career. Also I'm conducting career. And, uh, in 1996, when my father passed away, uncle son Leto joined the quartet to take my father's, uh, position. So it continues with the same sound and the same blogs. Speaker 1: 04:46 People must wonder how these musical gifts are transferred through the generations from your mother and father to you now, to your son and nephews. How do you explain that? Speaker 2: 04:59 It's actually kind of a mystery. I think it is because when you are born, enjoying seeing the power of music and how do you connect with other people through music? You just want to do it. That was the case in our family, but I know that there are many great musicians whose families don't follow it and don't continue. Don't want to do the same thing. So it's, it's a mystery, but in our family, it has gone on and it has actually expanded on the concert. On Sunday. We will be playing instruments made by my son who is a very good player, but he is a fantastic guitar maker. My grandson, Bernardo Romero, the son of one of my oldest daughter, he's also fantastic guitar maker. And then we have bilateral Inez. We have Oprah singers. We have pianist, we have pop singers. We have many different branches of music, but the guitar, almost everyone in the family plays it to a certain level, not all to a concert level, but many play the guitar. Speaker 1: 06:20 No, you are used to touring around the world. I wonder what has the last pandemic year been like for your family? Speaker 2: 06:28 Very, very different, different from anything ever in the end of February, the quartet was going to have a tour of Italy and that got canceled because of the pandemic. And then I was going to go to Germany to play some solo concerts and my wife and I went to Spain to spend a few days in Spain and then go on to play the concerts. When we were in Spain, we were locked in until August. We couldn't leave the country. And in August we came back here and then we were locked here in Del Mar. So it's been very, very unusual not to be able to travel, not to play concerts because in my entire life, since I was a youngster, I have been traveling and playing concerts and I've missed it. But I've also loved the time that we have spent playing music, enjoying each other and to enjoy. I feel like it, chef who has, they closed his restaurant. So he cannot cook for other people, but I still enjoy eating. So I love to play the music for myself. My father used to say that every note we play never dies. It goes on forever bringing into the universe. So I've been just playing. Speaker 1: 08:01 Did you or your father ever imagine that your family's music would be delighting people after 60 years? Speaker 2: 08:09 I don't think that we ever thought of it, but definitely I have enjoyed the music of people who lived early on from the very early recordings. I've been enjoying the performances of great artists who perform many, many years ago. And of course the composers. So music, the composers, even from centuries back music is eternal. And so as a musician, we never thought of, wow, will we be around 60 years from now? We just kept on going as we are, who knows how many more years we can do it, but we'll do it till the I've been Speaker 1: 08:56 Speaking with Pepe Romero of the famed Los Ramirez guitar quartet. They will be playing an anniversary concert at the belly up on Sunday. Have a thank you so much for speaking with us. Thank you so much for having me. Los Ramirez will perform a live streamed concert from the belly up in Solana beach. This sunday@twopmticketinformationcanbefoundatstellartickets.com. Speaker 3: 11:57 [inaudible].