flamenco Classical Music of the Soul
For Performance Call: 910.508.2072
“Most people grow up with one or two closely related musical influences and styles. I grew up with six eclectic
and unique styles.” - Mito
There are many music styles worldwide that influence and shape a musician throughout his/her life. For Mito, paternal and maternal family members have always been instrumental at introducing him to a diverse montage of musical instruments, such as: mouth harps, various stringed instruments, flutes, guitars, clapping (palmas) & stomping, dancing.. and of course, plenty of singing. Mito’s earliest musical influences include Mexican, Spanish (yes, there is a difference), Celtic, Rock (all aspects), Jazz (all variants), African drumming, Artistic-Classical (his favorites are: Modern, Post-Modern and Baroque), Eastern Dirges, American Hymns and various American folk styles. Exposure to this kind of diversity shaped not only Mito’s early understanding and appreciation of music, but also – and more critically – the well-versed musician he has become.
As a teenager, Mito began singing for enjoyment and inspirational release. However, he also embraced a great desire to play guitar. Although brought up with the sounds of nylon string guitars in Latin and Spanish rumbas, Mito "rebelled" the music of his ancestors. He held an interest in playing steel-string electric guitar. To encourage this dream, Mito’s mother bought him his first guitar: a “Silvertone” with an amplifier for his 15th birthday. About a year later, she recognized the significance of this guitar contribution to Mito’s musical development by listening to Mito’s unique guitar adaptations of violin, keyboard and other instrumental solos. Mito had always favored Paco de Lucia, Manitas de Plata and Sabicas, but as a youth he wanted to get a taste of, and explore other "flashy" musical genres and guitar styles.
Paco de Lucia ('05) "Manitas de Plata" -on left (aka Ricardo Baliardo and Hippolyte Baliardo in '01)
Sabicas (Agustin Castellón Campos, c. 1950's)
As a Jazz Standards singer, his mother understood the complexities of various jazz styles that she ultimately introduced to Mito. Most notable were the Jazz-Fusion styles of Frank Zappa and Chicago (Chicago VI & VII in particular). Further explorations into this genre led Mito to the unique music form called, Fusion (a combination of rock and jazz implementing extremely difficult solos) with the sounds of Al Di'Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty (featuring: Allan Holdsworth and Daryl Stuermer), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs), and Joe Satriani. These Fusion icons continue to peak Mito's interest to this day and influence his style, sound and compositions.
Frank Zappa (c. late 1960's - mid 1970's) (c. mid 1980's)
Al Di'Meola ('90) Jean-Luc Ponty & Guy Nsangué Akwa ('97)
Allan Holdsworth (Present & '87) Daryl Stuermer (Native Milwaukean '06, Shank Hall [120 person cap.], Milwaukee, WI)
(Link Photo)
From listening to an interesting combination of Jazz and Fusion, Mito began studying and playing fusion guitar riffs (solos). Learning musical scales aurally (by ear), and having no formal training in the intricacies of scale inversions (manipulating the beginning and ending points of solos) or modally (the end of one scale being the beginning of the next scale), Mito perfected the Jazz-fusion sound and soon became a sought-after performer for various Progressive-Fusion groups.
However, Mito was not satisfied with learning aurally or rote (repeated to commit to memory). He soon discovered the limitations that rote placed on his innate gift of musicality and subsequently sought more difficult Jazz-Fusion pieces. He began studying these new fusion styles, including rhythmic syncopations (striking notes or chords on upbeats or just before the down beats rather than on the simple downbeats) and poly-rhythms (simultaneous beats).
The increasing complexity of the syncopated rhythmic style demanded instrumental diversification for Mito, beyond the guitar. In 1992, Mito attended a workshop by world renowned percussionist Alex Acuña and began aurally studying and professionally playing percussion using poly-rhythms of five beats against three beats (accenting beat one for each measure). Later, Mito explored poly-metric (multiple changing beats per piece) drumming time signatures from Senegal & Ghana, East Indian rhythms in 9 and 10 beat measures and 12/8 – count measures in Flamenco rhythms, which enhanced his already honed intermediate finger plucking.
All of these styles came to fruition during Mito’s formative college years. During this period, he also discovered new facets of his musical talents, including a gift for playing the Zamponia, Rondador, and the Siku (various sized pan-pipes) as well as the transverse wooden flutes (played sideways, like a concert flute).
Mito professes that he will always be a student of music and will not put parameters on his Flamenco or any other style. And of course leading to this profession no one has influenced Mito as much as Paco de Lucia.
Paco de Lucía (Francisco Sánchez Gómez)
(Link Photo) Paco and Camarón
For more of Mito's musical influences see, The Change
For Performance by Mito Call: 910.508.2072
The preceding photos are not promotional photos,
and only used as information photos for the web site
Soto del Barco MusicTM
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