It\u2019s not every day that you get to interview a super jolly classical guitarist in the middle of a soccer field, but fortunately for me, yesterday was just that day! Los Romeros, also known as The Romeros, have been dubbed the \u201cgrand masters of the guitar” for good reason. Spanning generations, this legendary family of classical guitarists is still making waves world-wide. I had the chance to catch up with Celino Romero yesterday and get the scoop on what’s on the agenda for 2012 and beyond!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/romero-bros2-e1320135197861.jpeg\" "\\"romero-bros2-e1320135197861\\"")
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CP:<\/strong> What have you guys all been up to lately?<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> We just finished off 2011 with The Romeros\u2019 first Christmas recording for Deutsche Grammophon in Germany. We had a big tour in Germany, it was a great success, and it was really great to see the family. Christmas is really big, all the kids each play a song, and it\u2019s really big for the Romero family. Finally we have a Christmas CD out there, and it was a great success, so we\u2019re looking forward to our first concert of the year! Since that tour, we had a little break for the holidays, and now for 2012, we\u2019ve got a whole month in Europe planned. We\u2019re also heading to Asia, just non-stop. It\u2019s special because we\u2019re kicking off 2012 with Anthology as our first concert.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Excellent!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> We couldn\u2019t think of a better place to be than our hometown of San Diego, well at least Lito and my hometown. My father and Pepe of course consider Spain their hometown! (Laughs)<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) It\u2019s just a little further away.<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Exactly, but it\u2019s going to be a really great start. We\u2019re really happy with what we\u2019ve done in 2011, and we\u2019re happy to be going into 2012. The Christmas album was so special to us, and it\u2019s a really nice thing to have in our collection.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about your show this weekend at Anthology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> This concert is going to be really neat for us. I\u2019ve been to Anthology, and it\u2019s very nice. I was really impressed by the acoustics, and the food was phenomenal.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You know, it\u2019s always great to hear that. But every time I ask an artist what they\u2019re looking forward to coming in here, everyone says that they can\u2019t wait to try the food (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Yeah, the food last time was outrageous. I\u2019m hoping to get a little plate this weekend!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> We\u2019ll feed you; don\u2019t worry!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> That\u2019s awesome! But yeah, we always love San Diego, and we\u2019ve been trying to make this concert happen for a while. It\u2019s going to be really exciting to have so many friends there. We have so many friends around the area who have never seen our family play.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You\u2019re kidding!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> No! It\u2019s just hard to get time to do things. A lot of times I just forget to mention it. There\u2019s a lot going on. But it\u2019s nice. I think I\u2019ve got about 20-30 friends who are coming to the show. But we\u2019ve got a great show planned. Without saying too much, I want some things to be a surprise, we\u2019ll play a mix of really beautiful and exciting Spanish classical with a lot of flamenco influence of course, and a few romantic slower ones. You can\u2019t always play the fast ones; you\u2019ve got to mix it up!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely. Make it interesting!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> For sure.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You guys tour non-stop.<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Yes, we certainly do.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Do you have any specific shows or venues that really stick out to you?<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Well, so far, the US is great, but I\u2019ll go back to when I was a kid going on tour with the original Romero quartet, my grandfather and his three sons. I was always fascinated with the halls in Germany that were just amazing. We\u2019re in Germany almost 3 months out of the year; it\u2019s insane. But the US is really picking it up, and Anthology is a great example. This is a venue that has respect all over the world. I mentioned Anthology in Berlin, and people already knew about it!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You\u2019ve got to be kidding!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> No! It\u2019s great! It\u2019s already getting so much respect all over the world. But as far as a real standout, it\u2019s so hard to say. There are so many concerts that were great. It\u2019s like trying to pick a favorite restaurant. Sometimes you just can\u2019t say. But each concert has a different feeling and mood. But I will say that all over Europe is spectacular.<\/em><\/p>\n Asia is really amazing as well. There will be 1,000 kids coming in for a field trip to our concert. You\u2019re in China and Beijing, and you\u2019ll see a train full of students, and they get off the train and walk into the Romero concert! Things like that are really nice to see. That\u2019s the future.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Actually, (laughs) I\u2019ve got a standout! In Germany on this last Christmas tour, I was playing on stage and my chair shattered.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Shattered?<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Yeah! It shattered, and I went flying onto the stage on my butt! So that was a scary moment. But I finished the concert. But when we got there, I knew that this piano bench wasn\u2019t too sturdy, so I told the stage manager, \u2018This doesn\u2019t look so sturdy!\u2019 And he assured me it was fine, and I commented that it must\u2019ve been very good German quality (laughs). I think the guy was a little offended, but sure enough, the chair broke on me! He must\u2019ve set that up.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Sounds probable. So now, getting into this tradition a little bit, I mean, there are not many people who can say that they have generations of incredible musicians in their family.<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Definitely not.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> I know you have kids of your own now, correct? Are you passing along the tradition?<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> I\u2019ve got two sons and a daughter, and yeah, everyone plays. It\u2019s tough though, I\u2019ll speak for when I was a child, but when I was growing up, I would see my father, grandfather, uncles, and I never thought it was possible to ever get that good. I just thought why am I even trying? But then I decided to do it because I loved it. But no one ever said, \u2018You have to play the guitar.\u2019 I just did it because I loved it. It was part of everyday life, and with my kids and Lito\u2019s kids, we\u2019re taking the same approach. If you find a love for it, you\u2019ll do it. But right now, the kids are a little more distracted these days. I wonder if I have to change things around and pressure them a little bit. If I don\u2019t say anything, they\u2019re going to skateboard or end up on the computer. But I think it would be great to have the Romero family continue. So, I\u2019m trying to find the right way to not make the kids feel uncomfortable. My one son, I heard him tell his mom, \u2018Don\u2019t ever make me play in front of people.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n For me, that\u2019s the part that I love. I love to look out and see the eyes and the individuals. I love looking out and seeing people\u2019s reactions after\u2014 most of the time (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) Unless they\u2019re taking the screws out of your piano bench!<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> (Laughs) Right!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Well, I think it\u2019s really cool that your kids do play and that you\u2019re taking such a relaxed approach with it.<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Yeah, it is nice. I know they do love it. I think the most important thing is to play as a youngster. If you play as a kid, then you have it under you already. Growing up here in Del Mar, all of these kids would surf when they were really young. I have all of these friends here who haven\u2019t surfed in 10 years, and then they get back on and are great. So that\u2019s my idea. Maybe 1 lesson a week so I don\u2019t burn them out, but just keeps it going. Keep the touch. That\u2019s what we call it, the touch. It\u2019s the fingers contacting the strings.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Did you ever take outside lessons when you were learning to play?<\/em><\/p>\n CR:<\/strong> Yeah. I studied with my whole family, but I also studied with my mom who was a great soprano. And then I would study with my dad\u2019s students when he was out of town. He\u2019d assign one of his better students to teach me. It was nice. I had a lot of good teachers.<\/em><\/p>\n The technique we learn is based on one technique, but everyone in the family has slightly different tweaks to it. Everyone\u2019s hands are slightly different.\u00a0 It all comes from my grandfather who was self taught. But he believed in playing guitar without your fingernails. Start playing it more like a bass guitar with just your skin on the strings. That\u2019s the technique that we use. Rather than going nail to string, you go flesh, the tip of your finger hits, and then your nail will hit it and make that nice tone. When you see it, it looks like you\u2019re just plucking your fingers, but there\u2019s a lot to the technique. It\u2019s frustrating at times, but once you get it, you don\u2019t forget it.<\/em><\/p>\n Don’t miss this rare hometown appearance by Los Romeros! Special thanks to Celino for his time! Be sure to pick up your tickets to their second show, as the first is almost entirely sold out!<\/p>\n WHAT: <\/em>Los Romeros<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Interview with Celino Romero by: Casey Pukl It\u2019s not every day that you get to interview a super jolly classical guitarist in the middle of a soccer field, but fortunately for me, yesterday was just that day! Los Romeros, also known as The Romeros, have been dubbed the \u201cgrand masters of the guitar” for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-4388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32952,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions\/32952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWHEN: <\/span>Saturday, January 28, 2012, 7:30 & 9:30pm <\/strong><\/em>
\nTICKETS: $13-$69 <\/span>Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em>
\nMORE INFO: <\/span>Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n