The flamenco guitarist Tomatito, ‘José Fernández Torres’, performed ‘Luz de guía (El Destello Eterno)’ at the Teatro Maestranza on Saturday 25 September 2010 during the 16th Bienal de Flamenco in Seville; his concert was in homage to the flamenco cantaor Camarón de la Isla, whose singing Tomatito first accompanied when he was just 15 years old. He continued working with him for the last 18 years of his life, until Camarón’s death in 1992; it was Camarón who was a Luz de Guía for Tomatito – a ‘guiding light’.

Tomatito en “Luz de Guía (El Destello Eterno)”

Tomatito performed with Camarón de la Isla on the now legendary album called La Leyenda del Tiempo, which was released in 1979. Tomatito has collaborated with many outstanding flamenco artists throughout his career; in 1981 he played with Paco de Lucía on his recording Como el Agua. He has released a good number of his own recordings as well. The first of these was Rosas del Amor in 1987. He released two excellent recordings with the jazz pianist Michel Camilo: Spain (2000) taking its title from Chick Corea’s Spain and Spain Again (2006), which includes some classic tango works by Astor Piazzolla. 

Performing Luz de Guía with Tomatito in Seville were: El Christi on second guitar, the flamenco singers Antonio Ingueta, Simón Román and Morenito de Íllora, with Maca on bass, percussionists: Lucky Losada and Moisés Santiago and the very distinctive flamenco dancer, José Maya. 

Tomatito has his own well-designed website, which one can browse contentedly, while listening to his superb playing, including excerpts from each of the tracks on his recordings, and video clips from his television appearances with Camarón de la Isla, with the pianist Michel Camilo and more recently with his daughter, Mari Angeles, singing. 

© 2010 Thérèse Wassily Saba