Album Notes

Teye


   Teye was born under the sign of Scorpio in 1957 in Fryslân, The Netherlands.  A Spanish Gypsy with a Dutch coat? 
   At age 6 Teye starts to take music lessons, which end when he buys an electric guitar. He plays in high school bands, then he moves to London to play in various bands there; returns to the Netherlands, and releases his first record: "Teye's Mess Express". He also lives, works and plays in Paris for a while.
   In the early eighties, Teye enters the Conservatory of Music in Groningen, to study classical guitar under Willem van Lier, and then hitch-hikes into the heart of flamenco in Andalucía (southern Spain). Paco Peña, Manolo Sanlúcar, Paco Serrano, el Güeñi and others begin to teach him the beautiful art of the flamenco guitar. Teye starts to hang out with the gypsies from Córdoba, from Jeréz, and from Morón de la Frontera, who are relatives of the legendary guitarist the late Diego del Gastor, and starts to learn the gypsy style of playing. This earns him an honorary nick-name "El Gitano Punky" (the rock 'n' roll gypsy). He accompanies the famous gypsy dancer Carmen Cortés on Spanish television.
   Teye starts performing flamenco guitar in the Netherlands and quickly earns local fame, playing at the prestigious Guitar Festival in the "Oosterpoort Cultural Center" in 1984, and teaching flamenco workshops at the University. This is the time he gives up all side jobs to fully concentrate on music. And, in pursuit of a beautiful flamenco dancer from Boston (he met her in Spain) Teye travels to the US for the first time.
   In 1988 he releases "El gitano Punky", his first solo record, and one of the first flamenco solo guitar albums ever made by a non-Spaniard. This is also the year that he wins "best guitarist" in a Dutch national music contest. In Córdoba, the gypsy flamenco company of "los Plantóns" trains, and then hires Teye as guitarist. He is invited to a gypsy wedding, considered the highest honor that gypsies will bestow upon a "payo" (non-gypsy).
   Back in Holland Teye earns his degree Cum Laude at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. Touring and concerting through Europe is relentless: many performances, of his flamenco playing on National TV and radio, and, with Anabela da Silva, a Portuguese singer, in a new fado-ensemble (the typical music of her native country). He moves to Spain where he meets and marries the beautiful flamenco dancer Belen Oliva, and where until this day he keeps an address.
   Sandwiched in between his other work, Teye travels to the US , to start recording with Joe Ely (a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas). In 1995, Joe Ely's album "Letter to Laredo" featuring Teye's flamenco guitar is released to great critical acclaim and Teye tours the US and Europe with him. TV appearances on the Conan O'Brien-show and on CNN, among many others.
In order to make all this possible, Teye moves to Austin, Texas, where he also starts performing and recording on his own (a track of him playing solo flamenco guitar is included on the famous KGSR-sampler cds). Together with his wife Belén (who is from Sevilla, Spain) he starts a very successful flamenco ensemble in Austin: "Teye & viva el flamenco". Between this ensemble and the Joe Ely band, Teye now plays 250 shows per year.
   Then, 1999 sees his first US release "Viva el Flamenco!". The cd is also released in 8 European countries, and wonderful reviews and feature articles on Teye appear in US and European newspapers and trade magazines. The album receives great critical acclaim world-wide! 
    An article on Teye's life along with a picture of his first flamenco record "El Gitano Punky" appears in a beautiful coffee-table book on flamenco, published in Spain: "Filigranas" by Luís Clemente. 
   Just before the millennium ends, Teye and Belén front a slightly different line-up of "Viva el Flamenco" for a highly successful dream performance in the heart of Triana, the gypsy barrio of Sevilla. The next three years they spend touring Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as many cities in the USA and México, and the beautiful Carribean. in promotion of the cd, and ensemble.  Teye's first flamenco album "El Gitano Punky" is re-released on enhanced cd in the US, Europe and Canada in 2002. He is currently working on a new cd, to be released in mid-2003.

  Teye has studied flamenco guitar with (among others): Antonio Moya, Vicente Amigo, Manolo Sanlúcar, Paco Peña, Paco Serrano, Manuel de Palma, Carlos Heredia, Carlos Otero, Manolo Lozano "El Carbonero" and José Luís Balao of the "Catedra de Flamencología" in Jeréz; and most importantly: with the gypsies from Córdoba (the family Plantón), Morón de la Frontera (with the nephews of Diego del Gastor), and Jeréz. His training also includes: classical guitar under Willem van Lier at the conservatory of music in Groningen (Holland) and modern music at the conservatory of Rotterdam (Holland) under Bertus Borgers and Johan de Poel, where he graduated cum laude. The Grand Prize of the Netherlands awarded him "best guitarist" in 1988.
  Teye has performed as a flamenco guitarist in countless solo shows, in guitar duos, in various dance companies and ensembles: in Holland, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, México, Canada, and the USA. He has played with Joe Ely, Bruce Springsteen, Carmen Cortes, Dwight Yoakam, Rosie Flores, David Lindley, Rick Trevino, Rosanne Cash, and Lyle Lovett. His playing can be found on cd's by (to name a few:) Huba de Graaff; Anabela da Silva; Het Goede Doel; RTC; Courtney Audain; Ojalá; Leti de la Vega; Bianca de León; Don McCallister; on Austin FM station KGSR "Broadcasts Vol. 4";  and of course on his first solo release: "El Gitano Punky".
  Teye's most widely known recordings are Joe Ely's critically acclaimed albums: "Letter to Laredo", "Twistin'' in the Wind" and "Live at Antone's"; and his own 1999 solo cd "Viva el Flamenco" which has been released to rave reviews in the USA, 8 European countries, and Canada.

   Teye is endorsed by: Francisco Navarro flamenco and classical guitars; by B-band acoustic guitar pickup systems; by the SoloEtte travel/practise guitar; and by SWR amplification.