Album Notes

Soulflower Music, an independent label, released Tomas Rodriguez' first CD, Guitarra de mi Alma (Guitar of My Soul), a collection of Spanish, Brazilian and Latin guitar works and original compositions for solo guitar in April 1998. Speaking of the recording, Rodriguez said, "Guitarra de mi Alma is a homage to my ancestors and a testament to the enduring voice of music in my life,

Taking his listeners on a musical journey to Venezuela, Spain, Argentina and Brazil and arriving home through his own compositions, Tomas blends a pastiche of Flamenco, bossa nova, Latin boleros and American folk into a coherent whole. Rodriguez is assisted in his travels by noted Brazilian percussionist Guilerhme Franco, and Puerto Rico's Urbano Sanchez.

"Tomas Rodriguez plays guitar with a passionate originality, with an individual touch, drawing from the musical heart of the Latin world. Resonances from the folk and classical traditions of Spain and South America are richly evident in his playing, but he transmutes them into a sound clearly, fervently his own, " says Norman Weinstein, music critic, Boston Phoenix and The Christian Science Monitor.

In Rodriguez' original compositions, from "The Ocean in Passing", a contemplative evocation of the ocean in early spring to the searing "Rumba Surbronxana" the listener experiences of mutiple musical worlds reconciled. In "Danza do Meigo" (Dance of the Healer in the Galician dialect of NW Spain) Tomas pays homage to his Spanish grandfather. Speaking of the piece, Rodriguez said "Our ancestors are always behind us. They speak to us. And when they need to speak, they will choose us. If they need to say something or if they need to have something happen on this Earth, we will be moved in some way or another to give voice to their spirits".

Rodriguez cites influences as diverse as his own background, including: Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions as well as Andres Segovia, Joao Gilberto, Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell, and flamenco artists Camarón and Paco de Lucía. American-born, of Spanish and Scotch-Irish heritage, Tomas began playing the guitar at age 17, and shortly thereafter began performing with rock and rhythm and blues groups in Boise, Idaho where he lived at this time. It wasn't until the early 80's while attending Bard College in upstate New York that he picked up a Spanish guitar.

"My electric guitar amplifier died and because I was in an isolated area without a car, there was no way to get it fixed," he said. "The only guitar I had available was a Spanish guitar that was lent to me". Cellist Luis Garcia Renart - a protégé of the late Pablo Casals and a friend of the late Andrés Segovia -- taught him the basics, He later studied at the Manhattan School of Music with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, but left shortly thereafter to become musical director of Pregones Theatre, an innovative Puerto Rican theatre company based in the South Bronx of New York City.

Since 1990, he has performed as a soloist and ensemble leader throughout the NYC metropolitan area, as well as in France, Spain and Egypt. In 1997, Mr. Rodriguez' group, Tomas Rodriguez and Children of the Sun made its debut performance in a tribute to New York Philharmonic Director Kurt Masur at Lincoln Center, sharing the bill with Wynton Marsalis and the Boys Choir of Harlem, Rodriguez is currently at work on a follow up recording to "Guitarra de mi Alma" as well as composing material for his group. Now based in Brooklyn, Rodriguez said, "Music is the message of love. It goes directly to the heart. It is a straight path, one that I am blessed to share with my audience.