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DATE: AUGUST 7, 2018
FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/ANDREA FAULK
 BENISE, “THE PRINCE OF SPANISH GUITAR,“
TO KICK OFF 60-CITY
“BENISE: FUEGO! SPIRIT OF SPAIN”
WORLD TOUR SEPTEMBER 21 IN ANAHEIM, CA
LIVE SHOWS TO FEATURE NEW SONGS, COSTUMES, CHOREOGRAPHY, AND THE SET FROM HIS JUNE 2018 PBS SPECIAL
‘FUEGO!’
“I wanted to push the boundaries of traditional Nuevo Flamenco/Spanish guitar while combining the elements of dance and theater. This show is a celebration of music, love, and life…”
—BENISE
BENISE, “The Prince of Spanish Guitar,” will take his celebration of cultures from around the world on the road this fall and into 2019 with his 60-city “BENISE: FUEGO! SPIRIT OF SPAIN” global tour kicking off September 21 in Anaheim, CA. He’ll follow these performances with shows in China in October and November, before a week of European dates in late November.
The Emmy Award-winning composer and virtuoso guitarist and an international cast of musicians and dancers from Brazil, Cuba, France, Italy, Canada, Mexico, China, Venezuela and the U.S. will entertain audiences with a two-hour show that “is an escape from all their problems,” he says. “Much like the recent PBS special, with this show I want to take the audience on an escape to Spain…to a beautiful Spanish courtyard filled with Flamenco dancers, stunning costumes, and fiery Spanish guitars. Our upcoming tour will incorporate all the new songs, costumes, choreography, and set from the new PBS special ‘Fuego!'” Beyond the new material, BENISE says the live show will incorporate “some fan favorites from my street performing days and rock classics like Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ and some AC/DC.”
 BENISE adds, “This is a great show for the whole family; I really think we have something for everyone. I hope people will be inspired–by our story, by the music, by the production–and have the passion to follow their own dreams. I have always been a gypsy and love to travel, my heritage is Bohemian (from Prague), so I think it’s in my blood. I can’t wait to go to new cities, meet new people, and play every night–it’s what I live for.”
For his recent (June 2018) BENISE: FUEGO! SPIRIT OF SPAIN PBS special–his fourth for the network—BENISE is armed with his Spanish guitar and backed by a stage full of musicians and elaborately choreographed dancers, handpicked by BENISE from an international pool of talent. Flamenco dancers take center stage in a tribute to Old World Spain, while breathtaking couture fashions and innovative staging and choreography give Spanish dance a fresh and luminous makeover. FUEGO! captures world music at its best, with a show that appeals to the hearts and souls of people of all ages, cultures and musical backgrounds. With a beautiful and charming Spanish courtyard as the backdrop, BENISE debuts all new music, dance and costumes, adding his signature twist on such classics as “Granada,” “Malaguena,” “Moonlight Sonata,” “Asturias” and “Adagio.”
About BENISE:
Rarely is an artist capable of touching the hearts and souls of people of all ages, cultures, and diverse musical backgrounds as BENISE (pronounced Buh-nes-say). For the Emmy Award-winning composer and virtuoso guitarist, music has always been a journey…from his humble beginnings as a street performer, to performing around the world. He explains, “The first time I heard Spanish guitar–I fell in love with it. I knew in my heart this is what I was meant to do.”
From the age of eleven (when he received his first guitar), BENISE practiced relentlessly, teaching himself to play and ultimately mastering a variety of different styles that would eventually become his own unique sound. Though unable to read a single note of music, he began composing original works with powerful emotional arrangements that areboth wild and refined, producing a sound that is as edgy and exotic as it is romantic and sensual.
Leaving his family and friends in the Midwest to move 1500 hundred miles to Los Angeles with nothing more than his guitar, BENISE held in his heart the encouragement from his parents to “work hard and have faith.” After being turned down by almost every club in Los Angeles, BENISE started performing on the streets (Third Street Promenade, Universal Citywalk, Downtown Disney, Farmer’s Markets and Hollywood & Highland, among them). It was not uncommon for BENISE to put on more than 200 shows a year, sometimes playing two or three events in a single day. Tourists from around the world and native Angelenos alike took to BENISE like the “Pied Piper” of Spanish guitar. From there, the path of his music took on a life of its own, effortlessly opening doors along the way to attract musicians, dancers and cirque performers, eventually creating the extended family that is now known simply as his namesake, “BENISE.” A natural-born performer, BENISE held audiences captive with exotic drums, Gypsy violin, Flamenco dancers, Cirque performers, Brazilian Samba dancers and percussionists, African tribal drummers, Havana horns, and brilliant theatrical lighting to create and unforgettable experience.
As his audience grew, BENISE began promoting his own concerts, selling out 2,000 seat theaters throughout Southern California. In addition to organizing these live shows, he took his career by the reins by producing, arranging and releasing 13 albums on his own independent record label (Spanish Guitar Entertainment), plus 5 DVDs. The recordings capture the expressive Spanish guitar arrangements that stem from influences around the world, carrying listeners to such culturally rich destinations as Spain, Africa, Brazil, the Mediterranean, Cuba, India and Egypt.
Combining the Cultures of the World through Music and Dance!
Benise.com
Benise Facebook
Benise Twitter
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Press
BENISE, “The Prince Of Spanish Guitar,” To Kick Off 60-City World Tour September 21
DDJVibe
Aug 7, 2018
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