Gualberto Garcia Perez

Gualberto García Pérez is a musician regarded as a pioneer of the flamenco fusion, also called Andalusian rock.

Gualberto was born in 1945 in Sevilla, Spain. His maternal grandfather was a jack-of-all-trades who sung Flamenco, nicknamed Currillo el Calentero. His mother, Pastora Pérez Peral, was an amateur flamenco singer well-regarded by her neighbors. Gualberto entered the Salesians school where his two passions in life were formed: football and music. Under the attentive guidance of Don Pedro, his early mentor at the Salesians school, Gualberto and his classmates went on to become part of the local lore of Triana when his entire school football team was absorbed into the professional Real Betis Balompié soccer club. Gualberto would reach the All-Andalusian team and others, like Quino (Joaquín Sierra Vallejo), would go so far as to play for the Spanish national football team.

At the age of 17, Gualberto quit football to dedicate himself to music, forming the rock group The Bats, which was followed in 1967 by Smash, a group which pioneered Spanish and Andalusian Rock history.

After disbanding the group, Gualberto left Spain for the US to study music, alongside his first wife, Jessica Jones Carson, an American from New York City. There, he began to establish himself as a composer. His first work was the rock opera "Behind Stars"; in cooperation with the "Good Vibrations Studio" and the "Yoga Symphony Orchestra", he formed a group for it with the famous Hindu sitar player Diwan Mothihar. This first solo recording has not been released yet. His early works feature the voice and lyrics of his first wife.

Returning to Spain he published two solo albums: "A la vida al dolor" ("To life and pain ") and "Vericuetos" ("Loopholes"). In 1976 he spent several months in France and the Netherlands, composing chamber music, which would lead to his next record: "Otros días" ("Other Days"). Between 1976 and 1979 he arranged and collaborated several projects, rock and flamenco compositions, which were all brought together on "Inquietudes a compás" ("Beat Concerns"), re-released in 1997. In 1979 he recorded a fusion album between cante jondo songs (pure flamenco) and sitar called "Gualberto and Agujetas" (included on his 1997 album).

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