Polish guitarist Miguel Czachowski was born in 1974 into a family of flamenco lovers. At the age of 12, he began learning to play the guitar. After his initial studies, he took master classes from professional flamenco players such as Rafael Cortes, Salva del Real and Gerardo Núñez, solidifying his dedication to flamenco.
In 1992, he formed a flamenco group and gradually enlarged the numbers of artists from a duo to septet. His group “Viva Flamenco!” played both traditional and contemporary flamenco, mixed with influences from Indian and jazz. Performing both as a solo artist and also with his musical group, Miguel has won first prizes in many folk festivals and is now the leading flamenco player in his country.
He has performed and recorded with many great artists and groups, and has toured all over Poland as well as abroad (Austria, Germany, Italy, France, England, Belgium, Holland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belarus and India). For several years he has been teaching flamenco guitar, and writing articles and interviews, promoting the art of flamenco music in magazines as “Flamenco International Magazine,” “Jazz Forum” and “Swiat Gitary.”
In 1998, after a performance in Italy, he was invited to India to teach flamenco guitar at the Academy of Music and Fine Arts in Nagpur. There he started studying Indian music, learning to play the sitar under the guidance of Avaneendra Sheolikar. His fascination for flamenco and Indian music inspired him to go back to the roots of the Gypsy music and record the Indialucia CD, which received praise from press and listeners. The album was distinguished with the 1st prize “Best Album of the Year 2005” and 2nd music critics’ prize at the New Tradition competition for the “Folk Phonogram of 2005” award in Poland.
Discography:
Indialucía (CM Records, 2005)
Acatao (2014)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
